


the power of three

by tomkitty



Series: Miscellanea; File LitComp (Works In Progress) [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Creature Inheritance, Dark isn't Evil, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Good Dark Side, Good Lucius Malfoy, Good Severus Snape, Harry Potter Has Siblings, M/M, Orphan Hermione Granger, Taking Liberty with Magical Theory, all magic has to come from somewhere, dark potter children, magically powerful potter children, muggleborns aren't a thing, multiple POVs, tags to be updated, the potter children are forced to grow up, too many plot points but they all are necessary i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-27 20:47:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30128616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomkitty/pseuds/tomkitty
Summary: Dahlia, Aster, and Hadrian Potter grew up learning one important lesson, how to survive. From their life with the Dursleys to attending Hogwarts, they will do all they can to keep control of their lives.
Relationships: Ariana Dumbledore/Tom Riddle, Harry Potter/Fred Weasley/George Weasley, Percy Weasley/Original Female Character(s), Severus Snape/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Miscellanea; File LitComp (Works In Progress) [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658149
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

Dahlia woke with a start, her eyes flying open, as she heard movement coming from upstairs. “Star!” she whispered as she shook her younger sister awake. “We overslept!”

Aster silently scrambled up, accidentally waking Hadrian in her haste, who was immediately alert. He strained his ears, focusing on the movement upstairs and hoping that Aunt Petunia wasn’t heading downstairs just yet. 

“Go, go, go!” She quickly ushered her sister out of the cupboard and towards the backdoor that they had left unlocked the night before. Aster booked it out of the house, easily slipping through the slot in the fence they had hidden behind the shed, and ran for the woods. Dahlia for her part, locked the back door and quickly went back into the cupboard. She shut the door with a soft snick and went to work to relock the door. Just as the last lock clicked into place they heard someone coming down the stairs.

A pounding on the wooden door and the sound of the locks clicking open signaled the start of their day. “Freaks! Breakfast!” Aunt Petunia’s voice commanded. 

The two remaining siblings sighed and went to work. 

Mornings were routine for them, make breakfast for the Dursley’s, clean up after the Dursley’s, and then be sent to their cupboard and given whatever leftovers there were to share between the two of them. Once Uncle Vernon and Dudley were out of the house, Uncle Vernon to work and Dudley to school or out with friends on weekends and during summer holiday, Aunt Petunia would give them a list of daily chores and the two would spend the whole day working.

If they were, according to Aunt Petunia, well behaved and if Uncle Vernon opted to ignore them, evenings were an almost repeat of the mornings. Make dinner, clean up, be given whatever leftovers there were from dinner, be given time to shower because Aunt Petunia didn’t want them stinking up the downstairs, and then they’d be locked in the cupboard until the next morning.

Those were the good days. 

Bad days usually ended with being beaten by Uncle Vernon’s belt. Thankfully, as they got older, there were less and less bad days. But they still happened occasionally. Sometimes a chore didn’t get finished up to Aunt Petunia’s standard or Uncle Vernon just had a bad day or Dudley got in trouble at school. It was always their fault somehow. 

But regardless of how the day ended with the Dursleys, the Potters always had a good night because they got to see their sister. 

Aster was the middle child. The second born Potter being only 10 months and 19 days younger than her sister. She was a happy surprise for her parents. James and Lily hadn’t been planning to have another child so soon, but once they knew of her existence they loved her immediately. Getting pregnant was extremely difficult for wix so Lily getting pregnant that quickly was a precious gift. 

Unfortunately, the Dursley’s didn’t think so and saw fit to get rid of Aster as soon as they could. When Aster had been six, after four years of living with the Dursleys, Aunt Petunia decided she had enough and saw fit to leave Aster on the steps of a children’s home. The only reason they kept Dahlia was because she was the oldest and Petunia kept her to take care of Hadrian. Plus she didn’t want to lose the extra hands that cleaned the house. She wasn’t going to do it herself after all.

Aster however, did not want to live in a children’s home. She wanted her siblings. She wanted her siblings so bad that not even five minutes after Aunt Petunia left her there, she disappeared with a pop and found herself in the back garden of Number 4 Privet Drive. Ever since then the three siblings had been keeping Aster a secret. She’d sleep in the cupboard with them every night and then during the day Aster would make herself scarce. She spent a lot of time reading in the library, no one bothered her there as long as she willed it, and popping back to London. It took a few months to get it right but with the right amount of calm and concentration she could make it so no one would notice her.

She spent her days reading in the library, spending time on the streets of London, and shoplifting. She knew it was wrong to steal, but as she had talked herself into it each time and it became easier and easier for her. First it was just that she and her siblings were just so hungry so it was okay to steal food. At first she tried to stick to food that she knew would be thrown out soon, just to take some of the guilt off. No one else was going to buy the food that expired in a few days anyway. She knew. She’d seen the workers throwing out the perfectly good food herself after all. But as time went on and as she stole more than just food she started lifting whatever she wanted. 

Besides food she also had a (stolen) backpack that she used to fill with other stolen goods for her and her siblings. She’d sneak into hotels and steal their little complimentary toiletries as needed, as well as shower there when no one was paying attention. She stole clothes, mainly under things, but also a few thicker items to keep them warm at night, especially during the winter months. She stole notebooks and pens for them to do school work with. Aunt Petunia didn’t think that freaks like them needed to go to school but using old worksheets from Dudley they were able to teach themselves. Now they just used the notebooks to practice writing and math in. 

She also had a hidden niche with all her stolen treasures. She had found a sort of family while in London. Street kids like her. They’re the ones that took her in, taught her how to steal without getting caught, taught her how to fight, and taught her how to survive. They had a base, it was just an abandoned building that they lived in, but she had been assured that no one bothered with the place. Even though she didn’t sleep there, she was allowed to take one of the rooms for herself.

It was just a plain old room, she assumed it must have been used as a conference room once upon a time, based on the fact that the room had a few tables and chairs in it. After she’d cleaned the room out she went ahead and made herself at home. In it she stored her electronics, her skateboard when she wasn’t using it, extra clothes and shoes, nonperishable food, the used up notebooks and worksheets from her siblings, and a bunch of small odds and ends that she had stolen just because. Shiny jewelry, snow globes, little figurines, some stuffed animals, anything she liked really. She even had a bunch of presents that she had gotten for her siblings. They couldn’t keep them in their cupboard, but she’d bring them over at night. 

But aside from those things, the most important thing, in her opinion, that she stole was bandages and medicine. She hadn’t had a need for them ever since the Dursley’s had gotten rid of her, but she knew her siblings would. They had been healing themselves with magic for years, mainly Dahlia did the healing, but once she had gotten the hang of it, Aster would do it too. Now, whenever her siblings got hurt, Dahlia would heal Hadrian right away if need be, and then Aster would heal Dahlia at night. But pure magic could only go so far, so medicine and bandages for the much bigger injuries was needed.

They hated having to be apart during the day, every day, but they found solace with each other each night, snuggled up on a tiny cot in their cupboard under the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

25 January 1989

Night could not come fast enough. It was Dahlia’s birthday and she had been waiting all day to open her Hogwarts letter. She and Hadrian were sitting in the cupboard and waiting for Aster to arrive.

They heard the locks click open and saw the door open and close. Aster shimmered into view with a bright smile on her face. “I thought they’d never fall asleep!” she sighed. “You got it right? I saw the owl drop it off this morning.”

Dahlia waved the letter. “I’ve got it.”

“Open it!” Hadrian urged.

Dahlia carefully opened the letter and read out loud.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_   
_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_   
_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_   
_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Miss Potter_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_   
_Deputy Headmistress_

On the remaining pieces of parchment was the supplies list.

Aster frowned. “Wait, that’s it?”

“What do you mean that’s it? It’s her Hogwarts letter!”

“But there’s no other information! How are we supposed to buy the supplies or even pay tuition? Aunt Petunia certainly isn’t going to do it. I mean, I could nick some cash from people but even then, where would we even buy any of this stuff? They don’t just sell these things at the local ASDA. And even if we somehow got all the supplies, there’s no address! We don’t even know where the school is!”

“And then! Even if we did know all that information, what about Rian? We can’t just leave him here alone with these monsters. I can’t stay with him. I will of course, I’ll be here every night, but I’m not even supposed to be here. Who’s going to watch out for him during the day?”

Dahlia frowned in thought. Aster was right. There was a lot of information missing from this letter and she couldn’t help but think how negligent it was to send only a letter with so little information on it. Not to mention the fact that said letter was addressed to ‘The Cupboard Under The Stairs.’ Honestly, did that not raise any red flags? “You’re right. I’ll just have to send them a letter.”

_Dear Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall,_

_I am Dahlia Lyra Potter and I would like to thank you for this generous offer of acceptance. I would love to accept a place at your school, however I have a few pressing concerns._

_First there is the question of my younger siblings, Aster Tania Potter and Hadrian Rigel Potter. I am concerned for their well-being and do not wish to leave them alone. I am aware that Hogwarts is a boarding school so would my siblings be able to live with me? If not, I would like to request that I delay my admittance until Hadrian is able to attend seeing as he is the youngest._

_Second, my siblings and I are orphans and therefore have no way of paying for supplies or tuition to attend if there is one. If there are possible scholarships I could apply or write essays for I would be most grateful. I would be more than happy to put in work to earn a place at your school._

_Lastly, I am unsure of where to purchase supplies or even how to get to Hogwarts. If you could give me directions that would be most appreciated._

_Sincerely,_

_Dahlia Lyra Potter_

“What’s this about scholarships that you added in?” Dahlia asked as she looked over the edits that Aster was making to her letter.

“I read it in a book. Some schools offer monetary assistance if you can prove that you deserve a spot in their school by writing an essay.”

“Does Hogwarts do that?”

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t hurt to ask right? It’s better than asking for a handout. It shows initiative if we offer potential solutions to our own questions.”

“Fair enough.”

“Are we going to mail it now?” Hadrian asked.

“Yep.” Dahlia got up and opened the door, “now we just have to find a post owl.”


	3. Chapter 3

In the first week of February they received their answer. The Deputy Headmistress herself arrived at their home, thankfully, the Dursleys had gone on a trip, giving them free reign of the house, and answered all their questions.

She explained about Hogwarts, where it’s located, how they’d be getting there, what classes there were, the grading scale, and about the different houses.

They needn’t worry about money due to the fact that the Potter’s were a rather well off family and they each had their own trust vaults that would last them well through the end of their school years and then some years after. All they needed to do was go to Gringotts, the wizarding bank located in the magical shopping district of Diagon Alley, and request access to their vaults there.

Unfortunately, and this was the biggest concern, Aster and Hadrian would not be allowed to attend Hogwarts with Dahlia, nor was Dahlia allowed to defer admittance. When Dahlia expressed concern over her siblings' safety, Professor McGonagall insisted they would be safe from Deatheaters.

As Professor McGonagall explained, Aster’s mind spun. There was a lot of history and information here that she was clearly missing. Due to something that Professor McGonagall had referred to as ‘blood wards’ Hadrian was safest with their relatives because their mother’s sacrifice had enacted a very powerful blood protection that was maintained through their living with their aunt. But why was it necessary? Why would these Deatheaters be after Hadrian in the first place? She had many questions but figured she’d wait to research the issue herself. After all, once they were shown where Diagon Alley was, Aster would be able to return there whenever she wanted.

Dahlia meanwhile was concerned. Sure Hadrian would be safe from these Deatheaters, but what about the dangers inside the wards? How useful could they be if they had already spent years being hurt by the Dursleys? She didn’t trust it and by the look in her sister’s eye, Aster didn’t either. When they looked at each other they both nodded. They’d be looking into this, for Hadrian.

Before they left Professor McGonagall asked them to don disguises due to one very important detail. The Boy Who Lived. That’s what the wizarding world called Hadrian. It was ridiculous. Dahlia couldn’t believe it. Their brother would be recognizable in the wizarding world because he was famous. Dahlia applied a concealer to Hadrian’s forehead and placed a baseball cap on his head to hide his hair. Aster for her part, applied what she referred to as a perception filter to the three of them so that people wouldn’t look twice at them.

Aster and Dahlia didn’t have to do much to hide their identities. Apparently while everyone knew what Hadrian looked like for some reason, recognizable by his hazel eyes, wavy copper hair, and his scar, no one knew what his sisters looked like.

“Now children, this is Gringotts Wizarding Bank. The bank is run by goblins, a very proud race of magical beings so I must insist that you remain respectful at all times. Goblins are very direct and to the point. Be specific with your words when speaking to them. Stay close and follow me.”

They entered the bank, giving nods of respect to the guards at the door, and approached a teller to wait in line. As they waited they admired the tall ceilings, marbled floors, and pristine look of the place. At the teller booths sat the goblins who had long pointed noses, pointed ears, and wore well tailored suits.

“Next in line please.”

As the party of four approached the teller Professor McGonagall gave a respectful bow and the Potters followed suit.

“State your business,” the goblin said.

Professor McGonagall produced a large metal key from her robe and handed it to the goblin. “Good day master teller, we are here to make a withdrawal from the Potter Trust vault.”

The goblin sneered and said something in another language, calling forth another goblin. “Griphook will show you the way.”

As Professor McGonagall had her own business to attend to, she told the children to withdraw 200 galleons to cover their school supplies and then went on her way.

Aster’s mind turned. Professor McGonagall had explained the money to them. A galleon was about 5 pounds so if they were told to take out 200 galleons then that would be 1000 pounds. When they stopped at the vault Aster paused. Didn’t the professor say they each had their own trust vault? The professor only had one key, did that mean they were only visiting one vault?

Dahlia seemed to be thinking the same thing as she asked, “We’re only visiting my trust vault then, seeing as Professor McGonagall only presented one key?”

“Yes,” Griphook replied. “Each vault has their own key. You would have needed to present each key if you wanted to visit all three vaults.”

“Is there a way to access the vaults without the key?” Griphook gave her a sharp look. “This is our first time back in the wizarding world since 1981. I am the eldest and I was only three at the time. We have no idea what has become of our keys if we ever had them.”

“You will have to visit your account manager. They will recall your keys and after an inheritance test you will be reissued new keys.”

Dahlia nodded and went into the vault, there was a small purple pouch sitting on the side. When Dahlia picked it up, Griphook instructed. “Place a finger on the pouch clasp. It will take a sample of your blood to key it to your identity.”

Dahlia felt a minor prick to the finger and the pouch glowed for a moment.

Griphook gave a nod of approval. “The pouch is blood sealed so only you may open it. The pouch is yours to keep and has a counter on the clasp that will tell you how much is left in the pouch.”

“Thank you Griphook,” Dahlia responded politely.

Another nod of approval. This youngling was patient and polite, hopefully she would keep that attitude as she grew older.

Dahlia began filling the pouch up but didn’t stop at 200 galleons. For the time being she was the only one with vault access so she would have to make purchases for her and her siblings. She filled the pouch with a thousand galleons before adding another thousand. She would have to convert some of the galleons to pounds later. As good as Star was at it, she still hated the idea of her sister stealing. It would be better if she could purchase things instead of stealing them from now on.

As they were brought back to the front, Aster inquired. “To meet with our account manager would we need to schedule an appointment? Could we come in tomorrow?”

Griphook couldn’t help but approve of the question. Most wix would just walk in and demand a meeting. “As this would be your first meeting you may schedule it tomorrow. I will take care of it informing your account manager. Is tomorrow at 8am agreeable?” The children exchanged looks and agreed with the time. “If that is all?”

The Potter children nodded. As Griphook was about to turn away, Dahlia added in, “May your gold continue to grow.” She had overheard another wizard say it and thought it would be a good thing to say.

By the smile on the goblins face she had said the right thing. “And your enemies cower at your feet,” the master teller responded.

As they left the bank they spotted Professor McGonagall by the front doors. “Now, today I believe we should stick with just the basics. A trunk, your wand, your school books, and the like. Perhaps some parchment and a quill will not go amiss since you will need to learn how to write with one. Everything on your list can be purchased today except for potion ingredients, which are better bought fresh, and your robes, in case you grow between now and next summer.”

Their first stop was at a trunk shop but when they looked at the prices they decided they didn’t want to be spending money here just yet. Not without getting a full overview of their finances which they’d be doing tomorrow.

“Professor?” Dahlia asked, trying to be polite, “Would there happen to be a second-hand shop anywhere? These trunks are nice and all but if there are cheaper options, well, we wouldn’t say no.”

“Oh of course,” Minerva said, tutting to herself. Most children liked to buy things new after all, but she found it very responsible of them to want to save money by purchasing second hand items. “I know just the place.”

She led them out of the shop and took a side alley that they hadn’t noticed. “This is Vertic Alley.”

Hadrian giggled. “Is there a Horizont Alley too?”

“Horizon Alley, and yes there is. There are several magical alley’s and communities right here in London. Knockturn Alley, Celestial Alley, Contrair Alley, Rainbow Road, and Crescent Moon. Diagon Alley gets the most foot traffic because it has the most general shops but the other alleys tend to have more specialized shops.”

“Vertic Alley is where you can find more second-hand shops, small businesses, and the public library. Horizon Alley is where more large, international businesses or manufacturing workshops reside. There aren’t many due to the British Ministries restrictions but there you can get more custom or internationally popular items. Celestial Alley is where the more high end shops and restaurants are, we won’t need to make a stop there.”

“Knockturn Alley, well, they tend to sell items closely related to the darker magics. Not all of course, but that alley is rather rundown and known to be frequented by some, let’s say, unsavory characters. If you do ever end up needing to purchase anything from there, I suggest not visiting there without an adult present. It isn’t the safest place to be found in.”

“Contrair Alley, Rainbow Road, and Crescent Moon are all communities. Contrair Alley has a few shops, two food markets, a few play parks for children, a few communities and one of the other public schools here in Britain. Rainbow Road has almost all homes and a few community centers.”

“Lastly Crescent Moon is a lesser known area seeing as it’s more of a social congregation area for creatures. Wix aren’t allowed to enter without having creature blood or an escort with creature blood that can claim them. I’ve never been myself so I can’t tell you what it’s like, but if, between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, you receive a creature inheritance with your magical maturity then you will be able to enter Crescent Moon.”

Aster blinked and she processed the information. She’d have to find a book on creatures and inheritances. She already knew she’d be visiting the library almost daily. She needed to learn all she could so she could share the information with her siblings at night.

The rest of the afternoon went by smoothly. Dahlia first picked up a second-hand trunk that was a bit beaten up but still in usable condition. She ended up with a fairly dated black dragonhide trunk with silver trimmings for 4 galleons. The trunk came equipped with several storage compartments as well as shrinking and featherlight charms that had been placed previously. She also picked up a fairly used but still sturdy looking satchel with featherlight and expandable charms on it for 2 galleons and 14 sickles.

When they went to pick up her school books they once again decided that second-hand would be best. They wandered around the second-hand shop and were thankfully able to find all the books she needed. A lot of the books were somewhat older editions but Dahlia didn’t mind. Surely the theory hadn’t changed that much right? And if they did, well, there was always the school library. While they were there Dahlia, Aster, and Hadrian worked together to pick up several dozen other books. Some fiction books were chosen by Hadrian, while Aster and Dahlia focused on books about different spells, runes, rituals, laws, customs, and traditions. They were technically new to this world and they didn’t want to seem too ignorant. Aster would of course be returning to visit the library, but Dahlia and Hadrian needed books too.

One thing that caught Aster’s attention was that some of the books had writing from previous owners in them. Not all of them, but some of them did. One book in particular she found very interesting. It had several snarky comments written in it but also lots of helpful notes, diagrams, and even results from the owners own experimentation.

_Mix powdered bicorn horn and mashed mandrake root into paste before adding to potion. Brewing time is cut by twenty minutes. Strength of potion increases._

It intrigued her and she assumed that, because these were older books, they would be useful to buy. The newer editions surely had this information in it already. She continued to flip through the book and found _‘This book is Property of the Half-Blood Prince’_ written on the inside cover. With the shop owner’s help she was able to find twenty six of this Prince’s books. Nine potions, five charms, four defense, four transfiguration, two runes, one warding, and one arithmancy. It was a lot of books, but Aster didn’t want to risk someone else coming into the shop and buying them before she could.

Aster wandered the shop some more and found Lia by a small selection of quills, parchment and inkwells. She showed her the books and Lia agreed that the books would be useful to have. They soon left the shop and in total they only spent 78 galleons and 13 sickles. To them it was quite a deal considering they walked out with 61 books, multiple quills, inkwells, and packs of parchment.

For Dahlia’s wand they went back to Diagon Alley and entered Ollivander’s shop. The old man was strange, commenting about their parents' wands and he seemed to be finding too much joy in the fact that Dahlia was slowly destroying his shop with every new wand she tried. In the end she paid him seven galleons for a 10 inch, black stained rowan wood wand with a core of kelpie hair and horned serpent horn. Apparently the wand was very loyal and would give a shock to anyone else who would try to use it. Proven by the fact that Aster made to hold it while Dahlia went to pay for it and she had received a mild shock for her efforts.

Everything else was easy to pick up and happened with no fuss. With that being the last of their purchases for this trip, Professor McGonagall escorted them back to Privet Drive. There she gave Dahlia her ticket, stating that she’d need it to get onto the platform as it was her first trip there, but after that her magical signature would be recognized by the platform and she’d be able to enter it without a ticket from then on.

The Potter children thanked her for her help and she disappeared with a crack. As they had eaten dinner at the Leaky Cauldron they decided to turn in. They needed to be up early to make the trip to Gringotts tomorrow after all.


	4. Chapter 4

The Potter children walked out of Gringotts lost in thought. They each had their pouches, which were now linked to their vaults. All they had to do was think about how much they needed, in muggle or wizarding money, and it would appear in the pouch. On top of having easy access to money, they were rich. Their trust vaults had 50,000 galleons each, so approximately 250,000 pounds, and it was refilled to 50,000 galleons every year on their birthday from the main vault. Their family vault had galleons in the millions. It was obscene that they had this much money. They couldn’t touch the family vault until Dahlia could claim the ladyship, but still. To know the money was there was a lot to think about.

Dahlia was lost in thought about what she learned. Normally one couldn’t claim the place as Family Head until they were 17, but their account manager Rognok had informed her that if she was emancipated she could claim her ladyship as early as 14 years old. Dahlia was seriously considering it. If she claimed it then they’d be able to access the family vault and she’d be able to better provide for her siblings. 

Aster also had a lot on her mind. When Rognok revealed that information about Dahlia being able to become their Family Head, that got her thinking. The only reason that they stayed with the Dursleys was because they were young and didn’t want to be sleeping on the streets. But then there were the blood wards. But how did blood wards work? And why did they need Aunt Petunia to keep them up? If it was based in blood, surely her or Lia would be a better candidate to keep the wards up as they were directly related to both Rian and Mama. Aster needed to look into it immediately.

Hadrian for his part was thinking about the tests they had to take. Inheritance tests that showed what vaults they had access to through their blood. It also showed what abilities they had, if they had a creature blood, and if they had a soulmate. All three of them did. They had naga blood from their paternal line and drakan blood from their maternal line. Their mother had been part dragon and their father part snake. How awesome was that! What bothered him though was that they all had soulmates.

In theory a soulmate sounded nice to have, but he wanted to have a choice in who he would love. He didn’t want it forced upon him. Did having a soulmate mean that he couldn’t love anyone else? He didn’t know if he liked that. He’d have to read up more on soulmate bonds and what they meant. The test didn’t tell him who his soulmate was, and it wouldn’t until he was fourteen and had met them apparently. He was debating whether he wanted to check such a thing when he was of age, but that wasn’t for a few more years yet.

There was also the bit about their abilities. Lia was a fire elemental and had an affinity for warding, healing, and enchanting, Star had an affinity for potions, dueling, and was a water elemental, while he was apparently a natural occlumens, a natural legilimens, and was an air elemental. All of them had an affinity for wandless and wordless casting, mage sight, spoke parseltongue, and had an affinity for parselmagic.

Hadrian only understood about half of those terms and made a mental note to look up as many books on the subject as possible. He especially wanted to know what a natural occlumens and legilimens was and what it meant for him. Was it something he could use to protect his sisters? That was the biggest question. They had all these abilities but would it keep his family safe? He pondered these things as they wandered through the different alley’s, familiarizing themselves with them.

They did a bit of shopping, picking up useful books on subjects they wanted to research and going into the muggle side of London to buy clothes and other things that would be useful. When they returned home they spent their last three days of freedom together researching with their new books.

Dahlia was pleased to find that while becoming emancipated was a lot of work, it wasn’t overly difficult. All she had to do was go to the bank and go through a series of tests to prove she would be able to provide for her family. She had already inadvertently gotten started on the financial aspect by taking charge over her family's accounts. While she couldn’t withdraw anything from the main vault, she was able to make financial decisions like making investments to grow their wealth. The other things she had to do was prove herself academically and in combat. The goblins would give her tests on subjects such as Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Defense, History of Magic, Runes, Warding, Wizarding Law, and Magical Theory. If she passed those she would have to enter a dueling ring and duel several goblin warriors. If all were successfully completed, she’d be declared an adult and be her siblings rightful guardian. She decided to get started studying right away.

Aster however was having a difficult time. She had bought several books on wards but they barely had any mention at all on blood wards. It wasn’t until she was flipping through a few law books that she discovered why. Blood wards, by their very name, were considered illegal in Wizarding Britain. According to them, blood magic was considered a form of dark magic and the Wizengamot had been working towards banning dark magic from Wizarding Britain. It didn’t make sense to her. If blood wards were what was protecting Rian from Deatheaters then how was that a bad thing? So it used blood. So what? In her reading she had gotten sidetracked and ended up looking into their countries' laws. What she found had not impressed her. 

Wizarding traditions, referred to as the Olde Ways, were methodically being banned. Rituals being declared illegal and being replaced with muggle holidays instead because they used blood in them. It made her wonder about the goblins. They were considered their own people away from Britain and Gringotts was on goblin land. Was that why they were able to do things like inheritance tests which used blood? What about their pouches? Those needed a sample of blood to be opened too. She was getting sidetracked but she just had so many questions. With every new thing she learned it just left her with more questions. One thing was for sure, she needed to find more books on wards. What was it that Professor McGonagall said? For things related to darker magic, one would go to Knockturn Alley. Well, she knew where she’d be visiting next. In the meantime she decided to read up more on the laws. She didn’t want to accidentally get caught doing anything illegal after all.

Hadrian’s research was putting his mind at ease, ironically. Mind magics, that’s what it meant when his tests said he was a natural occlumens and legilimens. Occlumency was the art of shielding one's mind while legilimency was the art of entering another's mind. Being a natural just meant the art would come easier to him than most, but it was still something he’d have to work on if he wanted to be a master at it, which he did. 

The other thing he was looking into, their creature inheritances, was something else entirely. Having both drakan and naga blood was interesting as that was actually what fed into them having soulmates. Not every wix had a soulmate, but those who were creatures did. As Hadrian had read, it had to do with mates and instincts. 

He was a creature. Full stop. Not carrying creature blood. Not half human half creature as he had thought. But a creature. Had been since he was born, he just hadn’t matured into his features yet, which would happen when he got his inheritance. 

What he did have in the meantime were his instincts and it was his instincts that were seeking out the best possible match for him. That set Hadrian’s anxiety about soulmates at ease. He thought it meant having no choice in the matter but according to this, it was all his choice. Subconscious as it might be, it was still his, and it made him feel much better about having a soulmate.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warning: attempted assault and murder happens in this chapter

Aster exited the second-hand shop with a smile on her face. Now she had her own wand to practice with. Honestly she didn’t really need it thanks to her wandless magic, but her and Rian needed to practice with something to get used to the wand movements. Lia’s wand wouldn’t work for them and they weren’t allowed to get their own wands from Ollivander’s until they received their letters, so shady second-hand wands it was. On top of that she had found the books on blood wards she had been looking for as well as some other really cool books. It was written in something the shop owner, Stella, called parselscript. Aster was immediately intrigued. She knew parseltongue was a language, her and her siblings have been practicing speaking it to each other, but learning that there was a written version of it too? She thought it was worth buying. Especially since, when she skimmed them, the books mentioned parselmagic. 

She made her way towards the exit of the alley when her path was suddenly blocked by a rough looking man with long dirty hair, ragged clothes, and no shoes. He had a dark, hungry look in his eyes that could only spell trouble for her. That is, if it wasn’t for what she was. She knew what people saw when they looked at her. A small willowy girl who looked too thin and too fragile to defend herself. But that’s just what she wanted people to think. There was a reason why she always won the fights she entered in and it wasn’t because of her magic. People underestimated her because of how she looked. This man seemed to be doing the same thing; it would be his last mistake. 

She looked like an angel but by the time people realized she was a snake, the irony of her finding out she had naga blood not lost on her, it was too late for them. 

“Well aren’t you a pretty little thing,” the man said as he grabbed tightly onto her arm. Anger and panic flashed through her but she pushed both away and put a frightened look on her face, just as she was taught. 

“Wait no! Please don’t hurt me!” She brought tears to her eyes as she cried out in a pitiful voice.

“I wouldn’t hurt you lovely, I just want to play for a while.” He backed her into a wall and lifted his other hand up to tug on her hair. Her head fell back and Aster purposefully gasped out loud, parting her lips just so and blowing her eyes wide the way the older girls had taught her. The man groaned and pressed in close to her, using one of his legs to part her thighs. Oh gross, she could feel his erection pressing against her. “Oh, aren’t you a good girl? Don’t worry. I’ll make sure this will be pleasurable for both of us.” His grip on her arm loosen as he let his guard down and leaned in close to her face. 

Idiot. Aster pulled her concealed knife out and slashed at the man’s throat, ducking from the man’s grip to avoid the arterial spray. The man stumbled back, choking on his blood but still clearly living so she slashed her knife across his gut. He fell to his knees as he grasped at his neck as the blood poured out. Aster lashed out and kicked the man over. She looked down at him in disdain and cocked her head to the side, watching with a coldness as he bled out in front of her. 

“I was going to let you drown in your own blood, but I don’t want to risk your potential survival. I have no sympathy for child rapists, you disgusting waste of human life. I hope you rot in hell.” With careful, practiced aim she took her knife to the man’s chest and, using her magic to give her extra strength, stabbed straight through his fourth and fifth ribs, embedding her knife into his heart. She watched the light leave his eyes and nodded in satisfaction. One less child rapist on the streets.

She pulled out her knife and cleaned it on the man’s clothes to get rid of the excess blood. She then waved a hand over herself to get rid of any stray splatterings of blood from her person then plastered an innocent look on her face as she calmly exited the alley. She was going to have to take a shower now, the man had been too close for comfort.

\---

“Severus, I thought that was you. You were able to get away from the school this weekend I see.” Lucius entered the shop with a pleased look on his face. “I was just thinking about you. It has been a while since you last came by the manor.”

“Yes, I’ve been able to get away, saying I needed to purchase potion ingredients. I may be able to gather herbs in the forest but the rest need to be purchased. I’ll let you know when I’m free next,” Severus replied. He did miss his friends, and it had been awhile since he last saw his godson.

Lucius scowled. “It’s disgraceful that you aren’t provided with the ingredients.”

“Indeed.” They’ve had this conversation before. Lucius has brought it up with the board several times in fact, but Dumbledore always said there wasn’t enough funds. It was the reason they were given about why Hogwarts had gotten rid of so many classes. 

Lucius opened his mouth to reply when he did a double take towards the window. “I do believe I just saw a small child walk by.”

Severus raised an eyebrow. “Unaccompanied?”

“It would seem so.”

Severus hummed but Lucius smirked at the man. He knew Severus would have to check to make sure the child was okay and then escort her out of the alley. He would too, but he knew Severus would break first.

Severus glared at Lucius but was out of the shop and making his way towards the small girl walking through the alley without a care in the world. When it was clear that the girl was alone he almost sighed at the idiocy. She was dressed only in a deep green blouse, a black skirt, black mary jane shoes, and had her shoulder length black hair pinned out of her face with butterfly clips. The little brat didn’t even have a cloak with her! What was she thinking?

She was quite a ways down when he saw a man block her path. He couldn’t hear what was said but Severus felt a wave of worry pass through him when he saw the man grab the girl and back her into an alley. 

“Wait no! Please don’t hurt me!” Severus heard the girl say and he moved faster. He had his eye on the scene and was taking his wand out when he saw the man pull on her hair and press against her. He was about to cast but stopped short as the girl pulled a knife out and slashed at the man’s throat, easily avoiding the blood in an obviously practiced move.

The girl slashed at the man again, her knife cutting through his gut, and regarded him coldly as she kicked him over.

“Looks like she didn’t need help after all,” Lucius said from beside him, but Severus heard the surprise in his voice. He was just as shocked at seeing a small girl defend herself against a man who was easily twice her size, with a knife no less, as he was.

“I was going to let you drown in your own blood, but I don’t want to risk your potential survival,” they heard the girl say. “I have no sympathy for child rapists, you disgusting waste of human life. I hope you rot in hell.” They watched as the girl plunged her knife into the man’s chest and nodded to herself. She cleaned her knife, stood up, and with a wave of her hand cleared herself of any stray blood droplets. 

They watched as she exited the alley, acting as though she hadn’t just killed a man. They followed her for a bit and spotted a younger girl with bushy hair run up to the girl and hug her. 

“Snake!” the girl said, “You were gone for so long!”

The girl, Snake, smiled and ruffled the girl’s already messy hair. “I was gone for barely ten minutes. Did you at least behave yourself while I was gone?”

“Yes?” the girl held the ‘e’ out questioningly.

Snake huffed and rolled her eyes. “Did you set something on fire again?”

“Um, no?”

“Did you set someone on fire?” Snake crossed her arms and gave the girl a stern look.

“They were making fun of my clothes and hair and one of them called me a filthy mudblood!”

Snake dropped her angry look. “Oh, well that’s okay then. Did you get their clothes or hit them in the face?”

“I set one kids clothes on fire and the other one’s hair,” the girl said proudly.

“Out of sight?”

“Yep. I ran away crying just like you taught me. But then I hid around a corner and when they turned their backs? I set them on fire.”

Snake had a proud grin on her face and hugged the girl. “That’s my little pyro. Don’t let anyone talk down to you. But it never hurts to let them assume you’re weaker than them because?” 

“When people think you’re weaker they get sloppy and that’s when you can strike.”

“Good job. Now, are you ready to go to the library?”

“Yes!” the girl cheered. 

Snake nodded. “Okay, come along then.” 

“Snake, hm? That little girl not only just killed a man in cold blood but also just approved of setting a bully on fire while being sneaky about it.” Lucius was amused. A touch concerned too as the girl did look young, younger than ten years old, and was already so violent. It made him a little sad that someone so young had learned the harsh truths of the world so early. He hadn’t even taught Draco as much, wanting to keep him as sheltered as possible. “Two galleons say that girl will be going into Slytherin.”

“No bet,” Severus replied. It was clear to him that the girl would be a future snake one day, but he heard the concern in Lucius’ voice. Severus himself was equally as concerned. The girl did just kill someone after all, and in such a way that it seemed as though she had done it before. Severus himself had killed before, he had to. But it wasn’t until he was older, his first kill happening when he was nineteen, already out of school and an adult. This girl was a child. It was a kill in self defense, but still, she was far too young to be so cold.

\---

That night when Aster returned to their cupboard she immediately collapsed into her sister’s arms. She allowed her cold mask to break, letting the shock of the situation finally surface, and she started to cry.

Dahlia was immediately concerned and pulled her sister into her arms. For Aster to do this meant only one thing. It had happened before, a few times actually, where Aster came back in tears because she had been attacked and had to react with deadly force. Dahlia didn’t blame her, not one bit. In fact if Aster hadn’t done it, Dahlia would have hunted down the lowlife who dared lay a hand on her little sister. No one was allowed to put their hands on her baby siblings that way and get away with it. She’d kill anyone who tried. 

Hadrian climbed up and wedged himself against Aster’s back. Seeing Aster cry wasn’t too uncommon. She cried an awful lot, more than both him and Lia combined he was sure, but while Hadrian was still young he fully understood that the world was a dangerous place. He hated that his sister had to be out there every day, facing those horrors. Something bad must have happened today. 

Aster sniffled as her tears finally stopped. She basked in the comfort of her siblings, pushing closer to Lia and reaching a hand behind her to pull Rian closer. “I was attacked today,” she whispered. “The man grabbed me and backed me into an alley. He pushed me against a wall. I could feel him, how much he wanted it. Wanted me.” Her voice cracked. “I killed him for it.”

“Good.” Rian tightened his grip on Aster as he shook in anger. No one lays a hand on his big sister. No one. “If you didn’t, I would have.”

“Me too.” Lia said, and it was true. They were a family and they’d protect each other, kill for each other, no matter what.


	6. Chapter 6

“I’ve found the answer,” Aster stated as she joined her siblings in the cupboard. She had spent the last week and a half researching in the library, she had decided to avoid Knockturn for a bit, and she had finally found the answer to their Dursley problem. “One of those trunks with a full flat, muggle repelling wards, and my perception filter. All we have to do is tell Aunt Petunia that we’re leaving. We can lie and say that Hogwarts offered to house the three of us, but really we’d be living in the trunk in the attic.”

“What about this curse?” Rian pointed to Aster’s notes. “It sounds pretty useful on the chance that any of the Dursley’s catch us.”

“Do you think we can cast it?” Lia asked as she looked over the curse. It looked complicated. To cast it you needed to have a strong will and really want it.

“It is a little advanced, but I was thinking we wouldn’t have to use it except as a last resort. We could cast it as extra protection, but I don’t think we’d need it. I already asked the shop owner. They have trunks that come with built in muggle repelling wards and they’re fairly strong. It’s the same ward that’s used to hide the Leaky Cauldron. A whole shop and no muggles ever see it. We could live right under Aunt Petunia’s nose and she would be none the wiser!”

“No more beatings?” Rian asked hopefully.

“No more beatings. No more chores. No more being called freaks. We could leave the house. We could eat whatever we want, whenever we want.” Aster felt herself get excited. “I could introduce you to Shadow and Shade and Spider and Sol!”

Rian giggled. “I still find it funny that everyone in your gang has a ‘S’ name.”

Aster shrugged, not even denying that it technically was a gang. “It’s our thing.” She turned towards Lia. “So? What do you think?”

It was a brilliant plan. Their trunk flat would be protected in the attic. There was the benefit of the Dursley’s leaving them alone while they were still protected by the blood wards. They had the money to buy the trunk too. That curse though, it really was dead useful. “I say let’s do it. The curse too. It may seem a little excessive but there’s no such thing as too much when it comes to the safety of this family.”

“We should practice on each other.” Rian said as he looked up from Aster’s notes. “Then we’d know how strong the curse is and how long it lasts for. It didn’t say how long the curse lasted for, did it?”

Aster shook her head. “No, it didn’t. Great idea, Rian.”

“Double good idea because we’d know what the curse feels like and know if someone tried to use it on us.” Lia agreed.

“Great!” Rian smiled. “Let’s start now.”

\---

The next day Aster went to pick up the trunk. She had already commissioned it, knowing her siblings would say yes. It was designed for the travelling wix. A portable home with internal compartments. Entering the trunk you were led to a room with six doors. Behind each door was a customized space.

A full flat that had a kitchen, bathroom, living area, study, and bedroom behind the first door. The second held a library, the third a potions lab, the fourth a dueling room, and the last two were spare storage rooms that could later be customized. She added a few specifications to the first compartment so that it had three bedrooms each with it’s own bathroom instead of just one. With the other customizable rooms she asked for one to be made into an outdoor garden with a synthetic sun and a self cleaning pool and the other to be made into a large outdoor space about the size of a football field. They’d be customizing the rest of it themselves, but she had discussed it with her siblings and they wanted a safe space to practice with their elemental abilities.

In addition to that it had the basic compartments that every standard trunk had for easy access to items. Each compartment had customizable passwords that would be decided by the owner and on top of that, the trunks could only be opened and entered by those who had been keyed into it.

The trunk also had the typical muggle repelling wards as well as wards to prevent magic from being detected while inside the trunk which was good for them because they were going to be practicing magic before they attended school. It was featherlight, had wandless shrinking charms, and could be attached to a chain which she did before leaving the shop, wearing the trunk safely around her neck.

When she returned back to the Dursley’s that night then decided to practice their magic more. As it turned out, Rian being a natural occlumens and legilimens meant that he was the best at throwing off the imperius as well as casting it.

They practiced in the dueling room of the trunk, casting the curse at each other and trying to throw the spell off. It felt weird, the spell filled you with a sense of peace and happiness and it made you want to trust and listen to whoever was telling you what to do. Throwing off the curse was hard for them because they already trusted each other. They figured that if it was a stranger it would be easier to ignore it, but that just meant that they’d have to work harder.

Rian had been doing some reading on mind magics and that was something that he suggested they all learn. Just because he was a natural at it doesn’t mean that his shields were at all strong. They might be for all he knew, but he wanted them to be stronger.

The three of them practiced for a few weeks, until they were all confident in their ability to cast the imperius well. Then they turned their attention to their relatives, Rian took Aunt Petunia, Lia took Uncle Vernon, Aster took Dudley, and set their plans in motion.


	7. Chapter 7

“Hey, what curse is this?” Rian held out the book he was flipping through. There were three curses that were called unforgivables, one was the imperius curse. The curse they used to get their relatives to leave them alone. Thus far they hadn’t had any problems with it and didn’t have to reapply it yet. Another was the killing curse, the curse that killed his parents, the curse his sisters had saved him from. But there was one more.

The cruciatus curse. 

Star grabbed the book and frowned at it. It said it was a torture curse. But what kind of torture?

Lia looked over as well and wore an identical frown. “Do you think-? Should we try it?”

“A torture curse?” Star asked skeptically.

Lia shrugged. “Well, we don’t really know what it does, but what if someone were to use it on us? Shouldn’t we know what to expect? Like with the imperius curse?”

“Well, maybe. But what if it hurts?” Rian asked.

“We should find more information on it before we use it,” Star said decisively. 

\---

“I’ve got it!” Rian said as he showed his book to his sisters. “The cruciatus curse, also known as the torture curse, is one of the three unforgivables and the most sinister of the dark curses. When cast successfully, the curse inflicts intense pain by over stimulating nerve endings. The penalty for casting this curse on another human is a life sentence in Azkaban unless there is evidence of the caster being under the influence of the imperius curse.”

“Nerve endings?” Star frowned. That did sound painful as there were nerve endings all over your body. To have all of them reacting at once couldn’t be pleasant.

“Do you still think we should do it?” Lia asked.

“I think we should. I want to know what it feels like. We won’t be able to escape it if we don’t practice with it right?” Rian said.

“I don’t know. We don’t want to hurt ourselves. Nerve damage can be pretty serious.”

“Then we just won’t hold the curse for very long. Come on, Lia. We need to know,” Star insisted.

Dahlia was unsure. She didn’t want her siblings to get hurt. This was a torture curse! But, they did have a point. It would be beneficial to know what it felt like. She nodded her agreement.

Within the safety of their dueling room they set up an order. Aster would go first, casting the spell at Dahlia. Dahlia would go next, casting the spell at Hadrian. Then Hadrian would cast at Aster. 

“You ready?” Aster asked. 

Dahlia nodded. “Hit me.”

Aster pointed her hand at Lia and casted, “Crucio.”

“Oh!” Lia gasped out as she collapsed on the ground. She clenched her hands as she thrashed her head from side to side and arched her back off the ground. “Hn-Ah! Fuck! Stop! Stop!”

Aster immediately cancelled the curse. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

Dahlia was panting on the ground as she trembled. “I don’t,” she gasped as she tried to catch her breath. “I don’t think that curse was what we thought it was.”

“What do you mean?” Aster asked.

Dahlia lifted her hand and with Aster’s nod, she casted. “Crucio.”

“Oh!” Aster yelled as fell over and grit her teeth. It felt, fuck, it felt amazing! Too amazing, she was gonna- In front of her siblings! “Fuck! Stop!”

Dahlia dropped her hand. “See?”

Aster could only nod. What the fuck! This was a torture curse? Well, she could understand why. She may or may not have read a few books that would be considered inappropriate for her age. Bodice rippers if you would. She knew exactly the kind of torture this spell was meant to be now. But why was it considered unforgivable? Maybe they were doing it wrong?

“Maybe,” Aster hummed. She wondered if the spell changed based on thought. “I’m gonna try again.”

“What!” Dahlia yelled in alarm. “No!”

“I just want to see! Maybe we’re doing it wrong!”

Dahlia huffed. “Fine! But only a little!”

Aster cast the spell again focusing her mind on causing pain but it yielded the same result. The same thing happened when Dahlia cast the spell back on Aster. 

“I don’t get it. Is it us?” Dahlia asked. “I mean, this it’s classified as a torture curse. It’s supposed to cause pain. But all I feel is-” She cut herself off and glanced at Rian who had just been watching this whole time.

“What is it?” Hadrian asked. “If it doesn’t cause pain then what could the torture be?”

Dahlia and Aster looked at each other. There was no way they were going to cast that on their baby brother. He was too young. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t tell him though.

“Yes and no,” Dahlia said. “It’s certainly a type of torture, nerve endings were stimulated. But it was sexual in nature.”

Rian’s eyebrows rose. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” Aster added.” We’re not going to cast it on you. You haven’t even hit puberty yet. It wouldn’t be right.”

“You haven’t hit puberty yet either!” Hadrian protested. He knew it was a bit illogical to want to undergo a torture curse, but he wanted to know. 

”Actually we have,” Aster said sternly. They weren’t going to budge on this. “Remember the health book I had you read? Females tend to start puberty at eleven while males start at twelve. You, Rian, are nine.”

“I can handle it,” Rian insisted.

“It’s not about whether you can handle it or not. This is about sex. You know the mechanics, you know it’s purpose, but to experience it? To have an idea of what it feels like? That’s not-“ Dahlia groaned. “We’re not trying to control you or make decisions for you. We just want to protect you from this a little bit longer. You shouldn’t be experiencing these sensations yet. Yes it feels good but-“ Dahlia looked good Star for help.

She really did not want to be talking about this with her baby brother. Not yet anyway. She knew it was important but he was nine! This should wait until he was at least eleven, maybe twelve. A preteen. But there was nothing else for it she guessed. 

“Have you even ever masturbated Rian?”

Rian slumped. “No. I haven’t felt the urge to. Like the book said, on top of the possibility of wet dreams I’d start feeling the need to when I hit puberty.”

“Exactly.” Aster glanced at Lia questioningly. She blushed a little but nodded. “We have.”

“What!” Rian exclaimed. “When!”

“Rian,” Dahlia hid her face in her hands. She could not believe they were having this conversation. 

“I started a couple months ago. Lia?” she trailed off. Aster didn’t know when Lia started actually. She only started after a conversation she had with a couple of the girls she knew from London. They were teaching her how to turn tricks, not that she ever tried it yet, and they all agreed that masturbating before going out helped with the discomfort. She hadn’t understood until she tried it herself.

Dahlia mumbled something into her hands.

“What?” Rian asked.

“I read a book. It was talking about sex magic. There were rituals that required an orgasm as payment.” Dahlia shrugged like it was no big deal even though her face was red. “I wanted to try some.”

“What rituals?” 

Dahlia sighed. “The ones I did? One was for a boost of power, one was for protection, another for healing. There were several and they were rather complex. But they cover all of us, I made sure.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” 

“And let you know I was using sex magic?! It was embarrassing enough just doing it! I wasn’t going to share with the class!”

“Okay, yeah. I can understand that. It is something very personal.” 

Hadrian was lost and couldn’t help but sigh. This is probably what they meant when they said he was too young.

“Fine.” His sisters looked at him. “I can barely follow the conversation you’re having, so you’re right. I’m too young to have the cruciatus cast at me. I’ll wait until I’m older.”

Dahlia and Aster smiled at him. “Thank you Rian,” Lia said. “If, when you’re eleven, you still want to try it then we’ll let you. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”


	8. Chapter 8

Aster checked her surroundings and walked down the back alley. She reached the door and knocked the familiar beat. A beat was knocked back. She knocked the final pattern. The door opened to reveal a gangly boy of fourteen. “Hey Shade,” she greeted with a wry grin.

“What are you doing back around here Snake?” the boy glared.

“Aw, come on! Don’t be like that! Look!” Aster, or as she was known around here, Snake, held up a duffle bag. “I come bearing gifts!”

“Let her in Shade, before someone sees you.”

“Thank you, Shadow!” Aster called back.

Shade glared but let her in. Aster skipped into the building and easily dodged the attack that she knew was coming. She tossed the bag off to the side and dropped down into a crouch as Shade swung at her. She kicked her leg out and knocked the boy on his ass before she climbed on top of him. She pinned his arms and legs, cheating by using just a tiny bit of magic to boost her strength. “Really? What if what I was carrying was fragile, huh?”

“You always need to be on guard for an attack.” Shade broke into a grin. “Let your guard down and you could get killed. You know that.”

“Yeah, I know.” Aster grinned back, got up, and helped pull him to his feet.

“You’re getting better every time I see you Snake.”

“I did learn from the best. Where is Sol anyway?” Shade scowled at her and Aster just gave him a cheeky grin. Her and Shade were sparring partners, being the two that participated in the fighting ring most often, but Sol had been the one who first taught both of them how to fight.

“She’s out. Lacey came by asking for help. They’re looking for Glimmer.”

“She’s missing?”

Shade shrugged. “You know how it is.”

Unfortunately she did. She may have a place to sleep at night with her siblings but when it came down to it, she was still technically a street kid. She knew the ins and outs, knew how to steal, who to steal from, who to fence items off to, who to hit up for under the table side jobs for extra cash, and she knew that you did what you had to do to survive. It was kill or be killed out here and she wasn’t a stranger to getting her hands dirty.

That included doing what the older girls like Lacey and Glimmer did. She hadn’t gotten that desperate for money yet. Especially after she learned how to use her magic to steal without getting caught, but the older girls had taught her what to do.

Honestly, if it weren’t for her magic or the fact that she knew she had a place at Hogwarts, she probably would have been doing just what they were doing in a few years. It was dangerous, but some people paid a decent amount of money for a blow job in a back alley or a quick fuck in a seedy motel.

“You brought gifts?” Shadow, a younger girl with bushy brown hair bounded up to her. Aster was fond of the girl and tended to dote on her. She got the name Shadow from following her around after all. “I did! I’ve got clothes for everyone, some canned food for later, some fresh food for now, toiletries, a couple torches with batteries, and I’ve got a couple of books for you.”

“I still don’t understand how you’re able to lift so much stuff without getting caught,” Shade shook his head but he had a suspicious look in his eye.

“I’m just that good.” Aster made quick work of unpacking her wares. She hoped Sol returned soon. Lacey and Glimmer weren’t part of their little band of misfits but they were friendly. That was the thing about their little gangs. Street kids tended to stick to packs and were territorial of what they claimed as being theirs. But no one liked to have a turf war so they tried to remain friendly with other gangs in the area.

“So, where the fuck have you been, huh? It’s been weeks.” Ah. There it was. The cause for the slightly hostile attitude he was having. Shade was pouting. He was acting angry but Aster knew he had just been worried about her.

“I told you before I left,” Aster pointed out. “My sister got accepted to a boarding school. We were trying to figure out what to do about it. On one hand, my sister wants to go to the school, but on the other, going would mean leaving our brother alone with _those people_. As the older sibling, my sister took the brunt of the punishments. If she left that would mean all punishments would fall to my brother. He’s a year younger than Shadow.

“But we figured it out. We made a deal with my Aunt. While my sister is at school she’d allow my brother and I both to spend nights in the house. We’d be out of the house before they wake up and come home after they’ve fallen asleep. So basically what I’ve been doing these past few years.

“She wouldn’t have to feed us, not that she ever really did anyway, table scraps are not a proper meal, or even see us and in exchange we’d make sure the boarding school wouldn’t look too closely at our health when we attend.”

“You’re attending too?!” Shade exclaimed. “How would you even know?”

“We got a visit from the Deputy Headmistress.” Shade made a strangled choking sound that sounded vaguely like ‘fuck!’ but Aster ignored it. “Apparently our parents enrolled all three of us before they died. Prepaid for the tuition and everything so it’s expected that we attend.” She shrugged. “Honestly, anything that gets my siblings away from those monsters we call relatives ten months out of the year is good in my book.”

Shade hummed and looked away.

“What.”

“What?”

“You’re hiding something. I don’t know why you’re hiding something, but you’re hiding something. Spill it.”

Shade narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re hiding something too!”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because you’re both hiding the same thing.” Shade and Aster both turned towards the voice.

“Sol!” Aster smiled brightly at the woman who just walked into the room. She was tall, had tanned skin, dark brown hair, and blue-green eyes. She’d been 19 when Aster first met her, but now she was in her mid twenties

“Hello, lovely. You haven’t been around for a while.”

“Yeah, I was helping my family with something. What do you mean we’re hiding the same thing.”

Sol smiled softly at the young girl. “You, my dear Snake, are a witch. So am I. So is Spider. Shade is a wizard.” Sol looked at Shadow. “You are also a witch, Shadow. You’ve been having little bursts of magic have you not? Things that happened because you really wanted it to happen? That’s your magic.”

Aster’s mouth dropped open. “How!” She knew about Shadow’s magic of course. She had seen her practicing with it one day, told the girl that she was a witch, and had even brought her into the magical alley’s. After Shadow had confirmed that she could, in fact, see the Leaky Cauldron that had affirmed it for her. She had been taking Shadow to the library there ever since. But she had no idea about the rest of them. They never let on.

“Come,” Sol guided Aster over to the sitting area and beckoned for Shade and Shadow to join them. “I’m going to tell you all a story.”

\---

Aster was, shocked wasn’t even the right word. Astounded maybe, flabbergasted was a good way to describe her current feelings as well. They, Sol, Shade, Spider, were all wix. Shadow too, but Aster already knew that.

Shade was a wizard by the name of Altair Lestrange. He didn’t go to Hogwarts, he hadn’t gotten a letter, and had been on the streets since he was six years old. He had been the hidden child of the Lestranges, no one, not even his relatives, had known about him, and when they were sent to Azkaban in 1981 there was no one to care for him. The manor he used to live in had been raided by aurors and he had fled in fear. Sol had found him curled up in an alley, trying to make a fire with his magic to keep himself warm, and took him in. She had been physically sixteen at the time and Shade saw her as a mother figure.

Spider was a witch by the name of Gemma Farley. Her parents had died in the war and she had fallen through the cracks. She had been left at an orphanage when she was five but by the time she was seven she had run away. The other children bullied her and the matron had been a cruel woman who punished her for being evil. She’d been found by Sol in 1983, only two years after she had first found Shade. When her Hogwarts letter had arrived, Sol had helped her get the funds to attend Hogwarts.

Both Shade and Spider had money, Shade was Heir Lestrange and while Spider’s family wasn’t a Noble House, they had a fair amount of galleons saved up. Only about 30,000 galleons, but it was enough that she could attend school and have a few nice things. She only had enough money to last her until she was maybe thirty. She needed to do well in school so that she could get a good job. Shade never tried to access his accounts though, fear of being caught if he ever set foot back into the wizarding world. He was content to keep stealing and earning money in fights for now.

Sol on the other hand, was more complicated. She was a witch by the name of Ariel Riddle and for all anyone else knew, she was dead twice over. When she had been fourteen her magic had lashed out and she had accidentally killed her mother. Unknown to her, because of how volatile her magic was, she was on the verge of becoming an obscurus, a piece of her soul had broken off and embedded itself into a necklace she wore.

A horcrux, she had called it. It was a foul piece of magic that caused one’s soul and mind to be split in half. It was designed as a way to be immortal. If someone were to create a horcrux and they were to die, they would still be tied to the mortal realm. Which is what happened to Sol. When she died, she didn’t pass through the veil. She didn’t figure out how to get a body back until 1935. When she did, she couldn’t return to her old life so she created a new one. It was difficult with a war starting up and her being only 14 at the time but she found work, eventually met someone, and got married to her husband who worked in politics. She was killed for the second time in 1968.

The first time around it had taken her 35 years to get a new body. This time around it had only taken her eleven years but it had still been too long. She gained a new body only to find that in the time she was gone her husband had lost himself and then died. She decided that she needed to find a new purpose and found it when she had been looking into what had happened while she had been, technically, dead. She was going to continue what her husband had been working towards, the protection of all magical children, before he had lost his way.

“I’ll be honest with you as I know that once you enter the wizarding world you’ll find out the truth, but my husband, Tom Riddle, had eventually become Lord Voldemort. Funny that, Voldemort, it was a stupid name he made up in his youth. It was him and his Knights of Walpurgis, which was what he called his little friend group. It was never supposed to be,” she sighed. “He was a good man. He had been working toward the betterment of the wizarding world you know.”

“He wanted to protect all magical children. He himself had grown up in an orphanage during the war, you see? And he begged, every year, to be allowed to stay at Hogwarts where he’d be safe from the air raids happening in London, but he was always denied. It was awful. I myself was in the middle of it all, I helped attend to the wounded, so I know how bad it was. Tom was just a child, he shouldn’t have been made to go back where it wasn’t safe, but there was no one protecting him or children like him. Those who lived in the muggle world either by being muggleborn or orphaned. He wanted to protect them from muggles.”

Aster was shocked. That did not sound like the Voldemort she had read about. Her disbelief must have shown on her face.

“I see you must have heard something about him already?” Sol just shook her head. “I don’t know what happened. But he changed, lost his way somehow. The Tom I knew never would have done what he did in those years I had been gone. All those raids. Hurting people. My Tom would have never- But, he’s gone now. Ended by the Potters. I’m kind of glad y’know?”

“You are?” Aster asked, unsure. This was Voldemort, Tom Riddle’s wife. Her family had been responsible for his death.

Sol nodded. “From what I’ve read, Voldemort wasn’t Tom. I mean, attacking a baby? My Tom would have been horrified at the very thought. So yes, I’m glad. I have your family to thank for that, don’t I?”

“So, you know about my family?” Aster asked. “Who we are?”

“Not at first. All I knew about you is that you were a witch. I assumed muggleborn based on what you told us. Maybe halfblood after learning about your siblings, though it’s not uncommon for more than one wix to be born from squib descendants. I put it together. A family of three, two girls and one boy, orphaned right after the defeat of Voldemort? There aren’t many families that could fit that criteria.”

“Squib descendants?”

“Of course. All magic has to come from somewhere. You think magic just manifests out of nowhere? No. All magicals that we now know as muggleborns today are actually squibborn.”

“Why do I feel like that’s not common knowledge?”

“Because it’s not.” Shade glared. He thought it was stupid. Everyone should know who their family was. He didn’t know why it wasn’t required for squibborns to take inheritance tests at Gringotts when they get their letters. They should. The idea of abandoning squibs to the muggle was stupid too. Squibs could do magic, albeit less showy branches of magic, but magic nonetheless.

Sol went on to explain how squibs happened when a child was born unable to access their magical core. They still had magic, but it was harder to gain access to because their pathways hadn’t been developed for one reason or another. No one was really sure of the reason because no one had decided it was worth looking into. To wix, a squib was a squib, and they were only one step above a muggle because they couldn’t cast.

Unfortunate as it was, lots of old families abandoned their squib children to the muggle world. It was considered a ‘mercy’ because how could a child who couldn’t use magic be happy in a magical world? They were ‘only trying to do what was best for their child.’ It was nothing but an empty excuse. Those wix were ashamed of having a squib in the family and thus got rid of the child. Simple as that.

But just because a squib was sent into the muggle world did not mean that their magical core just vanished. It was still there and it got passed down to their children. The child of a squib and a muggle was also a squib. The magic got passed down to the children, and would continue to be passed down even if only as a spark. If a squib descendant had a child with another squib descendant then there was the chance that their child would be born with the proper magical pathways to access their magic. There was also the chance that they wouldn’t, but it was just that, chance.

“Do you know anything about the muggle theory of genetics and DNA? Dominant and recessive traits?” Sol asked. Aster nodded. “It’s like that. Being magical is written in a person's very DNA, that DNA is passed down to their children. In squibs, they still have magic in them, but the gene that would make it so they could access their magic is a recessive trait. That recessive trait would get passed down to all their children so they’d carry it, but every once in a while if they came in contact with another person with the trait, it would make it possible for that gene to come out.”

Aster nodded in understanding. It made sense. “So my mother was a squib descendant,” she said absently. “My father was considered a pureblood wizard but my mother was a muggleborn. Wait. That makes my aunt and my cousin squibs!” She laughed just imagining her aunt’s face on finding out that she did have magic, the thing that she called them freaks over.

Hm, but that meant that Dudley was a squib who’d be able to dabble in some magics, just not all. She wondered if she could use that to turn Dudley to their cause. He was only nine after all. There was a chance for him to grow up and be better.

“Speaking of your aunt, did you really convince her of all that?” Shade asked. He didn’t believe her story. From what he knew of her aunt, not a lot, just what Snake had shared, she wouldn’t have accepted that so easily. There had to be something else they did.

“I found a spell. I was reading and I found this one spell that,” she eyed Shade and Sol. “It’s not exactly a legal spell so don’t freak out on me.”

Shade laughed. “My parents are in Azkaban for being Deatheaters. Whatever spell you found can’t be that bad.”

“The imperius curse.”

“You cast an unforgivable!” Shade shouted.

“You said you weren’t going to freak out! I know it’s a curse but it helped us!”

“I’m not freaking out because it’s bad. I don’t care about that.” Shade waved it off. He really didn’t care. Magic was magic to him. “But you cast it? Successfully?”

“Yes. My siblings and I practiced on each other-”

“All of you?” Shade was still shouting.

“Yes, we all need to know how to cast in just in case it broke or something.”

“Your brother is nine!”

“So?”

Shade shook his head. “You really don’t know how powerful you all are do you? That kind of thing, that level of power so young, isn’t normal Snake. Magic is a muscle. Kids go to school and learn spells over time and practice with them to build up their power. To be able to cast something as advanced as the imperius curse? You’d’ve had to have been using magic for years. That isn’t something that most kids do.”

“Actually,” Sol spoke up. “It is normal. Just not here.” Shade frowned in confusion. “You learn a lot of things when you travel to other countries and one thing I learned? Wizarding Europe as a whole is very behind when it comes to magical education. Other countries start sending their children to school at six years old. Magical children are born with a core and like every other muscle, for it to work you need to practice with it. It’s why accidental magic happens. The magic feels like it needs to do something so it gets used in bursts. Once children start harnessing their magic and learning how to cast, the accidental magic stops.”

“Wait, so why don’t they do that here?” Aster asked. It didn’t make sense.

Sol shrugged. “I really don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: *shoves all my plot ideas into one fic*  
> also me: think they’ll notice?  
> me: *arms full and dropping spare ideas all over the place* nahhhhh


	9. Chapter 9

By the time Dahlia was to head to Hogwarts she had learned so much. She already studied well past second year material, organizing her mind so that she’d recall the information better, and was working her way toward third year material. She only had three more years to prepare for her emancipation, she needed to study as much as she could.

She also finally got to meet the people that Star had thought of as a second family. Sol was a brilliant witch and a fountain of information who helped her when it came to understanding the subjects. She also taught her how to fight and often set up dueling matches between her and Shade. Shade was a strong fighter who had lots of practice casting silently and without a wand, seeing as he didn’t have one. 

Spider, whom she would need to call Gemma at school, didn’t meet her until summer, and through her they learned about the trace. It was applied yearly when they boarded the Hogwarts Express to their wands. So as long as they didn’t do magic in the vicinity of her wand, they could do all the magic they wanted which is why Spider took to keeping her wand in a warded compartment of her trunk. While it was in there it wouldn’t be able to sense any magic that they did. In order to help Dahlia get ahead, Spider let her go over her old school work and told her that she’d look out for her when they got to school. 

Shadow was still just a kid, but she was smart and seemed to idolize Star. She and Rian clicked immediately and became best friends. Dahlia was glad that Rian was going to have a friend his own age and be able to arrive at Hogwarts with a friend. That is, if Shadow got a Hogwarts letter. After all, Shade never got one but they hoped Shadow would.

When it was time for her to leave, it felt strange. She found an empty compartment to sit in and found that she really did not like having to be away from her siblings. She wouldn’t be able to see them until winter holiday. She didn’t like it. To distract herself she pulled out a third year book on transfiguration and began to read.

Before long they had arrived at Hogwarts and while the sight of the castle from their boat ride across the lake was impressive, she couldn’t help but wish her siblings were right there with her to experience it. She knew they’d see it eventually, but it wasn’t the same as being there together for it. Before she knew it all the first years were being directed towards Professor McGonagall who explained to them that they were about to be sorted. Dahlia already knew about the hat, Gemma had told her about it, so she wasn’t worried while everyone speculated about how they would be sorted.

There were two red haired boys, twins, standing next to her who were talking about how their brothers said it was supposed to be a surprise, that it was tradition. Well, Dahlia didn’t know much about tradition but it seemed like a nice sentiment.

When they entered the Great Hall, Dahlia was speechless. The ceiling was incredible. It was a clear view of the night sky, almost as though there was no ceiling at all. It was enchanting. She turned her eyes to the front of the room and sure enough, there was the sorting hat. One by one they were all called up, alphabetically, until it was her turn.

“Potter Dahlia!”

The hall broke out into whispers and Dahlia just barely refrained from rolling her eyes. She still thought it was ridiculous that her baby brother was famous. She just wanted people to leave her family alone.

She took her seat on the stool and waited patiently for the hat to sort her. It hummed a few times, complimenting her on her skills and knowledge, however it didn’t take very long before it called out, “Slytherin!”

The hall was strangely quiet, with there only being a spattering for polite clapping coming from the Slytherin table. Strange. She noticed that those sorted into Slytherin got less applause than the other houses but this was ridiculous. Dahlia looked over to the main source and spotted Gemma clapping and shooting people sitting around her dark looks to get them all to clap as well. She then heard a very distinctive clap coming from the staff table behind her. She looked behind her and saw a man with shoulder length black hair and onyx eyes being the source of the clap. He wasn’t looking at her though, he was looking at the Slytherin table and that was when she noticed the clapping from that table grew louder. Dahlia gave the man a small smile, knowing that somehow he was the reason everyone started applauding her properly, and quickly moved to sit down near the end of the table. 

She waited patiently for the sorting to end, then after a few announcements from the headmaster, food appeared on the table. Dahlia was amazed at the plethora of food and eagerly dug in. While they ate regular meals these past couple of months, they had stayed practical with their food choices. This food however, filet mignon, roast beef, sauteed vegetables, something that smelled like fish; she didn’t recognize a lot of the dishes but she took a small portion of each so she could try them all.

Everyone in her house seemed to know each other already, carrying on with quiet conversations to each other, but she paid them no mind. She wasn’t all too comfortable talking with people that weren’t her siblings anyway.

After the feast was over they were led down to the dungeons. Gemma had told her about the common room being located there and had warned her to practice her wandless warming charms for when she was in the corridors. While their common room was warm the corridors leading to the entrance were not. Funnily enough, by the time they reached the door she was the only first year not shivering. She guessed she was the only one forewarned about it being cold. She spread her warming charm out so that it touched each of her year mates. She smiled as she saw them all visibly relax as they warmed up.

—

Severus watched from the shadows as the prefects brought the first years into the common room. His eyes immediately fell upon the Potter girl. He couldn’t believe it. A Potter in Slytherin! Something must be wrong with the sorting hat for it to send her here. But he was nothing if not protective of those he was in charge of. Regardless of her name, he would treat her as he treated all his snakes. He was a bit of a bastard and he knew this, he had to be, but these children were under his care and he took his duties as Head of Slytherin seriously.

The prefects gave their speeches and Severus stepped out of the shadows.

“Welcome to Slytherin House. I’m sure most of you know Slytherin has a reputation of being the ‘evil house of Hogwarts’ but I am here to tell you that that is far from the truth. You are cunning and ambitious. Resourceful and clever. You know the importance of self-preservation and keeping those you care about safe. Slytherin is the house of survivors. We are not despicable. We are not wicked. We are strong and we are stronger together.”

“Outside these walls I expect you to be united as a house. Any disagreements you have with each other must be settled in house only. Do not air your grievances with your housemates to others. If any of the other houses even suspect that we are not as united as we proclaim to be, they will not hesitate to extort that fact. I expect you all to travel in groups of three or more when outside of the common room as a safety precaution.”

“I do not take points from my own house. Others will see this as favoritism towards Slytherin’s but it is in fact to even out the sheer amount of unfairness involving the points system. You will notice that when it comes to receiving points, Slytherins tend to get less than those of the other houses for performing something at the same or higher level of skill. Punishments are the same. Slytherins are more harshly penalized than other houses.”

“That being said, that does not mean that I will not be punishing you if need be. As a fellow Slytherin I also hold myself to the rule of taking care of business in house. While I will never harshly correct you in front of others, if you get caught doing something you shouldn’t be, you will be punished accordingly with detention.”

“Lastly, while you are here, I will be your acting guardian. You may come to me for anything, academic or personal, and I will try to help you to the best of my ability. This isn’t an empty platitude. I truly mean every word of this. I am here for you if you need me. Please feel free to knock on my head of house door, the entrance to which is located just behind me, whenever you need me.”

“As tomorrow is Saturday, there will be no classes tomorrow but I expect you all to be at breakfast to receive your class schedules and after, prefects will be giving the first years a tour of the school. As everyone else is aware, I have scheduled the yearly mandatory medical evaluations for everyone with myself and Madam Pomfrey, the times of which will be posted on your schedules. With that said, prefects, lead the first years to their quarters and the rest of you, I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow.” 

Severus dismissed them and eyed the Potter girl. He had half a mind to pull her to the side and have a talk with her about behaving but decided against it. If he wasn’t going to do that with the other first years then he wouldn’t do it to her. He was about to head back to his own quarters when he noticed her bright smile. He followed her line of sight and was surprised to see Gemma Farley waving to the girl and shooting her a thumbs up. She made a hand gesture and mouthed the word ‘after’ which had Potter nodding enthusiastically. 

Severus narrowed his eyes by the barest amount at the exchange. How did Farley know Potter? 

He found out later when Potter exited the dorm area and went straight for Farley who swept her up into a hug. 

“How’re you doing?” Farley asked.

“Great! The common room is so pretty and the room is huge! I even have my own bathroom which surprised me. I would have thought there’d be more shared spaces.”

“Slytherin’s value our privacy. Also, being able to have our own quarters is a perk of having our house in the dungeons. Lots of space.”

“After sharing a cot with Rian and Star for years I don’t really know how I’m going to cope with not having them with me in such a huge bed.”

Severus frowned. The bed was a normal double bed with green curtains and the room was only big enough to fit a desk, a modest wardrobe, and a bookshelf, while leaving a bit of floor space. Also, cot?

“Yeah, I felt the same being away from Sol and Shade, but you get used to it after a while. If you get homesick you can always come to me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Now off to bed with you,” Farley gave Potter another hug and pushed her off towards the dorms. 

Severus wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. Farley was a good student. She studied hard and was near the top of her class. If she continued to do well she had the makings of becoming a prefect. He knew she was an orphan. He figured out as much after her medical check when she was a first year, so how was it that she knew Potter?

Albus had assured him that the Potters were taken care of and living with loving relatives. It didn’t add up. He was just going to have to wait for the medical checks and start of term meetings to figure it out.

\---

School was not going well for Dahlia. It had only been a few weeks but she hadn’t made a single friend. She didn’t mind walking alone, even though it was against the Slytherin rules. They were supposed to be traveling in groups of three or more, but aside from going to the Great Hall in the morning and from class to class, she had no one to travel with during her free time and she wasn’t about to ask someone to go with her to the library or to explore the castle.

She was heading down the stairs from the library when she felt something wrap around her ankles. She was falling and immediately balled herself up. She was well versed in the proper way to fall after the amount of times Vernon had thrown her down the stairs. She learned very quickly that you couldn’t stop a fall, but you could prevent yourself from getting hurt. 

She tucked her chin to her chest, used her arms to protect her head, and made her body more ball shaped so that she’d roll the rest of the way down. When she got to the bottom she laid there for a few seconds before sitting up. Something or rather, someone had tripped her up. She flipped on her mage sight and saw the lingering magical signature from the spell that had been cast on her. 

She glared. A tripping jinx. Dahlia spotted the trail and followed it back up the stairs. She followed it until the trail ended. She was in a corridor but there was only one direction to go so she went that way. There. She slipped into an alcove as she saw, up ahead, a group of older Gryffindors, one of which had the magical signature matching the one that tripped her. She felt heat rippling under her skin. This stupid boy tried to kill her! How dare he! Furious, Dahlia sent a few time delayed hexes his way as they turned down another corridor. Satisfied with her work she headed back down towards the dungeons, this time, keeping a shield charm around her as she traveled. From that day on she never went anywhere without a minor shield up.

It was a good thing too, because unfortunately, this would not be the first time someone would try to attack her in the corridors.

\---

“Excuse me.”

Dahlia looked up and saw an older boy with ginger hair, somewhat similar to those twin boys in her year, with bright blue eyes, glasses, and Gryffindor robes. Hm, probably related to those twins then. She did overhear that they had older brothers. As she looked at the boy something in her swelled and rumbled in pleasure. There was something about this boy. “Yes? Can I help you?” she asked. 

The boy cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. Adorable she couldn’t help but think. “Yes, I was wondering when you’d be finished with that book on runes?” He pointed to one of the open books she had on her table. It was the third year runes textbook and it was one of five that she had been cross referencing. She was trying to find out how to build her own protective pieces. Premade objects and amulets were well and good but she wanted to know how to create her own so she could add whatever protections she wanted to it. To do that one needed an in-depth understanding of runes. She was glad that she was already working on studying the third year material.

“I’m still using it actually.” She saw the boy's face fall slightly. That wouldn’t do at all, this boy should never be sad. “Why did you need it? What happened to your textbook?”

The tips of the boy's ears turned red as he turned his face away. He looked to be bracing himself for something. Oh no, she’d embarrassed him somehow. There was something, she studied the boy and couldn’t help but notice that his robes were rather worn and a bit small for him. Oh, his family must not have enough money if he’s wearing second hand robes. Dahlia could understand that. She also understood why he looked away. He was expecting her to begin making fun of him.

“Never mind. I can look at it another time. Here.” Dahlia held the book out to the boy. “You’re in the class I’m assuming so obviously you need it more than I.”

The boy looked at her in surprise as he carefully reached out for the book. He hesitated, his hand inches away from the book, as if he were expecting her to pull it away at the last moment. Dahlia huffed and glared at him. She couldn’t help her anger, no matter how this boy made her heart beat faster as her body filled with warmth. She pushed the book the rest of the way into the boy’s hand. She let go and he fumbled to grab it before it fell. 

“I said you can take it,” she said irritably as she pushed the warm feelings away. Honestly! It was bad enough being outcast in her own house. She didn’t need nor want to deal with suspicion from the other houses on top of that. It hurt more that said suspicion was coming from this boy though.

The boy squeaked out a thank you and quickly scurried off. Dahlia glared in the direction he left before she let her face fall into a pout. She blinked rapidly and bit her lip as it started to quiver. She wasn’t upset. She wasn’t. She didn’t care if those of other houses attacked her in the hallways or were distrustful of her kindness. She didn’t care that this beautiful boy with captivating eyes, who for some reason made her magic sing, didn’t like her and ran away from her. It was fine. Everything was fine. It didn’t bother her one bit.

She tightened her occlumency barriers as she swiped at the tears (moisture!) that were gathering in her eyes and sniffled. There was a lot of dust in the library, that was all. She refocused her attention on the book in front of her and began familiarizing herself with the runes. Unbeknownst to her, a pair of bright blue eyes framed with horn rimmed glasses watched her from behind a bookshelf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you can’t tell, this is the percy/oc i have in the tags. percy/dahlia! yay! i’m excited about this ship tbh; if you can’t tell by the way i’ve been pushing chapters out to get to this point.
> 
> i’m want to start speed running through this year and the next so we can get to rian’s first year already. 
> 
> but also i’ve got plot points so... gotta get through those first


	10. Chapter 10

Dahlia was confused. It was Samhain and she had been looking forward to seeing how the school would celebrate the holiday. Were they going to do rituals by house? By year? Were they going to do it en masse on the quidditch pitch? Or were they going to have to do it on their own? Dahlia only had vague memories of doing one the night their parents died.

She tried to recreate it in the years after so that maybe their parents could cross the veil and visit them, but none of the attempts ever fully succeeded. She didn’t realize until the school was abuzz about the Halloween feast that she had forgotten to look it up. But now she’d see first hand how to properly do it. Or so she thought.

The Great Hall has been decorated with carved pumpkins and bats, the feast had been almost entirely candy, and when it was over there was no talk of there being a ritual. Everyone was just sent back to their houses.

She asked Gemma about it in a private corner of the common room and what Dahlia learned surprised her. The samhain ritual, while not illegal, was frowned upon. It had been classified as dark magic by the Ministry and therefore had a huge stigma against it. The same could be said about all the other holidays. Instead, western muggle holidays, like Halloween, took their place.

Dahlia was appalled. This was their culture! Why weren’t they being taught about it? Something so sacred to their culture shouldn’t just be shoved to the side.

Well, fine. If the school wasn’t going to teach them the Olde Ways then they would just have to learn it themselves. Feeling more calm after her talk with Gemma, Dahlia pulled out some parchment and began a letter to her siblings about what she learned.

\---

Yule was fast approaching and Dahlia couldn’t help the giddiness she felt. She had received a letter from her siblings with the best news and she couldn’t wait to get home. _Their_ _home_.

Star had figured out the blood wards weren’t tied to their Aunt Petunia at all, but rather them. It was being powered by both her and Star. As long as Rian considered his home to be with them, the blood ward would protect them. In addition to that, Star and Rian performed a ritual to strengthen the reach of the ward. Now, instead of it just surrounding wherever they lived, it surrounded them as individuals. Regardless of where the three of them went, they’d be protected from Voldemort and those who carried his mark.

That was another thing they figured out. Voldemort wasn’t dead. Sol had visited Gringotts and learned from the goblins that her bonded, one Tom Riddle, was in fact still alive. Sol didn't know how she felt about that. On one hand she missed Tom something fierce, but the mad man he had become? Voldemort? That wasn’t _her_ Tom. Her Tom would never have done the truly horrible things Voldemort did. Her Tom wasn’t a murderer. Her Tom was a defender of children, not someone who would attack one. No matter how much she loved Tom, she couldn’t, wouldn’t, love Voldemort after everything he had done.

As such, that was how they acquired their home. Sol had helped them find the perfect place to live and they all would be living there. The three of them along with Sol, Shade, Spider, and Shadow. Their own little family. Dahlia could not be more thrilled. She would have been skipping around the castle in joy if she could but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself.

She still didn’t have friends and no one spoke to her. She was still being bullied in the halls, students from the other houses resorting to pushing her and throwing insults her way since her ever present shield prevented them from hexing her. They considered her an easy target, she knew, because she never told on them and she never retaliated as far as they knew.

She stuck to her minor time delayed hexes and jinxes but at the rate that she was being attacked she had half a mind to start cursing these people. Maybe a trip or two to the hospital wing would get them to leave her alone. She didn’t have time to deal with this as often as she did. She was just glad that she didn’t have to deal with it from her own house. At least, not anymore.

She smirked a little as she remembered how she dealt with _that_ little problem.

As it was, she was spending another afternoon before dinner in the library. She had made sure she was proficient in the third year material and was already starting to work her way through the fourth year course work. The subject matter was significantly more difficult as the work was meant to prepare students for their OWL year, but most of it came down to the practicals. The theory was easy enough to remember but casting, brewing, and applying the runes and arithmantic formulas was what she needed to work on.

She looked up from her books when she felt the magical presence of that boy from before. The one she gave the runes textbook to. She learned his name was Percy Weasley and he was one of the older brothers to those twins in her year, Fred and George. She liked them. They were nice to her and spoke to her sometimes in class. They weren’t friends, but they were never mean to her. They never pranked her either and she appreciated it seeing as those two pranked everyone.

Percy though, he was in the library almost as often as she was. They hadn’t spoken since that day but they’d see each other, sometimes they’d make eye contact and Dahlia would feel a thrill go through her at him noticing her. It was silly, but she looked forward to seeing him even if they never spoke. He’d study a few tables down from her and she could pretend she was studying with a friend.

—

Laughter rang in Dahlia’s ears from where she was sprawled out in the mud. She had been late leaving the greenhouses and her year mates left without her. That meant she was alone when a group of upper year Ravenclaws crossed her path.

She didn’t care much for what they said. Something about her being an orphan and her dead parents would be ashamed of her for being in Slytherin. It was the usual insults she heard from everyone. It didn’t bother her. Not really. She’d heard worse after all.

She glared at them as they walked away. She stayed down because she knew that if she got up she’d attack them and get in trouble. She wasn’t stupid. She saw the way Slytherin was treated. Even if the other houses started it, if a Slytherin was involved they were the one to get in trouble. It wasn’t fair but her life had never been fair.

That didn’t stop her from sending time delayed hexes their way though. That had been her go to revenge tactic recently. If they received a hex when she wasn’t around it would be blamed on someone else. Especially if she sent it wandlessly, which she always did.

She frowned down at her muddy robes and was about to cast a cleaning spell when she got an idea. Mud was part water right? She wondered. She was a fire elemental but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t manipulate the other elements. She worked best with fire and earth magics while air and water magic was a bit harder but through practice with her siblings they found that if they focused enough they could manipulate the other elements.

She focused her magic on the mud, but specifically the water in the mud, and tried to pull it from her robes. All it managed to do was separate the water from the dirt. She frowned. How would she be able to keep the water and dirt together and still be able to move it? Would freezing it work?

She had been practicing changing the state of water. She could pull water from the air, manipulate its liquid state, freeze it, unfreeze it, and make it evaporate again. She focused on freezing the mud and was pleasantly surprised when it worked.

She smiled as she was easily able to separate the now frozen mud from her person. She still technically wasn’t clean, she’d be taking a bath later, but at least there were no traces of mud anymore.

Dahlia was feeling rather pleased with herself as she walked back towards the dungeons. She couldn’t wait for this term to be over. Only a few more days now and she’d be home to see her family and be able to show them her new skill!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, chanting: speed run! speed run! speed run!  
> plot: hello!  
> me: no! speed run!  
> plot: *shoves itself into the speed run anyway*  
> me: why.


	11. Chapter 11

School was back in session and Dahlia was in the library again. She was close to perfecting her gifts for her siblings. She found the runes that she wanted to use, the material she’d be using, and the proper sequencing to use that would amplify the effects of the runes. She just needed to find a tracking charm that was as compatible with everything. If she chose the wrong one it could collapse the whole matrix and she’d have to start all over again. The tracking charm was important as being the connecting link between all the bracelets so they’d be able to find each other at all times. It needed to hold everything together.

She was flipping through several different advanced spells and charms books when she heard someone clear their throat in front of her. Percy had approached her and was standing beside her.

She noticed the book in Percy’s hand and bit her lip. When she went home for Yule she took the liberty of buying the third year runes books for him along with the third year arithmancy and care of magical creatures textbooks. She’d seen him in the library borrowing the books and she learned what classes he was taking and decided to buy the textbooks and send them to him. She just wanted to help. What if someone had the book he needed and he had an essay due? She was doing him a favor by buying him the books.

“Hi,” Dahlia greeted after a few moments of silence with him just standing there.

When Percy went into the library looking for the Slytherin who’s name he learned was Dahlia Potter, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he needed to say something. He had only properly interacted with her once in the beginning of the year but he’d seen her in the library almost every day. Even on weekends. They made eye contact sometimes but that was all. They weren’t friends or even acquaintances.

He knew of her though. Dahlia Potter. The first year Slytherin who was an easy target, or so people thought. He’d heard others, especially those of his own house, speaking of her. How she just took their attacks and didn’t bother to retaliate. How she didn’t even report them so they could get away with their behavior.

They were wrong.

Percy knew that no one who attacked her got away with it. Dahlia always got back at her attackers. Percy had seen it. It always happened in ‘blink and you’ll miss it moments’ because Dahlia Potter, the first year Slytherin that everyone thought was weak, could cast silently and without a wand.

If he was being honest, she intimidated him. She was powerful, he could feel it coming off her in waves when she’d cast, but at the same time he felt drawn to her. Ever since that first day when he saw her almost cry right here in the library. He’d felt bad about the way he acted. He had no reason to think she’d be mean when she had greeted him with such an open and friendly smile, but he couldn’t help it. She was a Slytherin and as much as he hated it, he too had bought into the stigma surrounding that house. He was trying to be better about it.

So when he received a present addressed to “the boy with the bright blue eyes and horn rimmed glasses” he knew it had to be from her. He could feel traces of her magic on it. No one else seemed to be able to though.

The gift itself was all books. There were fifteen books from classes he had been taking and a few on subjects that he had been reading up on in the library. His family had been shocked when he received the gift and had asked who it was from but he had no answer for them. Bill and Charlie looked impressed, Fred and George had begun teasing him about having an admirer, while Ron and Ginny didn’t much care as they were too focused on their own gifts.

After he had gotten over the shock of the extravagant gift he didn’t know what to get her in return. What did girls like as gifts? He had fretted about it for days. She must have spent so much money on those books! How was he supposed to get her a gift that was worth as much? That was when Bill suggested that he make her something to show he used her gift.

Percy hadn’t known what he meant at first but Bill explained it. Instead of buying her something, make her something using the books that she bought him. Do a permanent transfiguration and add runes or charms to it. So that’s what he did. He spent the rest of the Yule break creating the gift that he was about to give her.

The only problem was, now that he was in front of her, his voice was stuck. He couldn’t get the words he wanted to say out and so he just pulled the gift out of his bag and thrust it out towards her.

Dahlia blinked but took the gift. “What’s this for?”

“A thank you,” Percy was finally able to say. “The books you got for me were- You got me so many. I just- thank you.”

“How’d you know it was me!” Dahlia exclaimed. She had been careful when she sent the gift to him and she didn’t put her name on the package.

Percy froze for a moment. He very well couldn’t tell her that he could sense her magic in the books. That would be weird! “Well, I already had presents from my family and friends. Plus, everyone knows I’m a Weasley. The only person I knew that would have known that I didn’t have the books and who I hadn’t introduced myself to was you.” Dahlia tipped her head at him. “You didn’t put my name on the package but you mentioned my eyes and glasses. Most people would point out my hair, but we’ve made eye contact a few times in the past few months, so I just guessed it was you.”

“Oh, well um, you’re welcome. I just always see you in the library and you’re always using the books that are textbooks for the classes you take and I just thought, what if you needed one of the books for an essay or something and someone had already checked the book out? Then you wouldn’t be able to get your homework done. The other books, I just thought you might like them.” Dahlia looked at the present in her hand. “I didn’t buy them for you so you’d give me something in return.”

“No, I know,” Percy rushed to reassure her. “But I wanted to say thank you somehow and I thought, well actually, my brother gave me the idea,” he admitted a bit sheepishly. “Open it. You’ll see.”

Dahlia opened the package and looked in awe at what was inside. It was a pink dahlia pendant on a strip of black velvet. It reminded her of those old Victorian gothic style necklaces that you’d see in paintings from the 1800’s. “Oh it’s beautiful!” She picked it up and let out a delighted gasp. “It changed color! How?” The dahlia was now white and it glinted in the light.

Percy eagerly sat down on the chair next to her as he geared up to explain. “It’s a color changing charm. I imbued the pendant with different charms and runes. The pendant itself is glass but charmed to be unbreakable. The different dahlia colors are red, pink, purple, white, blue, green, and black. The pendant is charmed to change color when it encounters magic.”

Specifically your magic, he didn’t say. He’d used a keying spell to get the color changing charm to recognize Dahlia’s magic using the magic that still lingered in the books. “It will change color every time you touch it. Also, if you look closely there’s runes inscribed on the inside of the velvet. It’s protected to be waterproof, fireproof, and theft proof so no one can steal it from you. It was a little tricky trying to get the charms to stick since the pendant and velvet were permanently transfigured but I was able to figure it out in the end.”

“Wait, you did? You made this? Not bought it?”

Percy lost his excitement and started turning red in embarrassment. He never should have listened to Bill! Dahlia is a Slytherin. Of course she would have preferred an expensive gift, not his homemade one. He should never have come over here. Why did he even-

“That’s amazing!”

“What?” Percy was snapped from his thoughts as Dahlia grabbed his hand and was looking at him with an awestruck look.

“I can’t believe you made this! It must have taken so much work! I’m creating rune and charm imbued bands for my siblings, you see? So I know how much work must have gone into this. Plus the fact that you transfigured the materials? The dahlia you created is so beautiful! You’re really talented Percy!”

‘I- Um, oh. Thank you.” Now Percy felt terrible. How could he have thought that she’d be so shallow as to not like his gift just because he had made it himself? Because she was a Slytherin? He mentally berated himself for once again buying into the Slytherin house stigma.

“Can you put it on me?” Dahlia handed him the necklace and turned. She moved her hair out of the way so he’d be able to clasp it properly.

Percy felt his heart stutter in his chest as his body started to feel warm. She wanted him to put the necklace on her? Percy blinked and tried to clear his mind. Why was he making a big deal out of this? _She’s baring her neck to you. She trusts you._ Something in his mind whispered to him but Percy pushed it away in favor of putting the necklace on her. It matched Dahlia perfectly.

“Does it look okay?” Dahlia smiled shyly at him. Her deep brown eyes were holding him in place. They had flecks of gold in them. They were-

“Beautiful.” Percy’s eyes widened. He didn’t mean to say that out loud. “I mean, it matches you.”

A bright smile adorned Dahlia’s face and Percy felt his stomach swoop. He couldn’t help his thoughts. She was beautiful and she was smiling at him. He didn’t deserve it and yet all he could think about was how he wanted to always be the one to make her smile like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more percy/dahlia!
> 
> ... this fic is a slow burn by the way. for all the ships. did i mention that?


	12. Chapter 12

The rest of the year flew by and Dahlia couldn’t help but be in high spirits as she got off the Hogwarts Express. She was going to see her siblings today!

“Are your guardians here?” Percy asked from beside her. That was also another development. Her and Percy were friends now. They studied together in the library and practiced spells together down by the Black Lake.

“I’m sure she’s around somewhere but I don’t see her yet.”

“Okay, can you come with me? I wanted you to meet my parents and maybe ask if you wanted to come visit over the summer?”

“Really!” Dahlia smiled at him. “You want me to visit?”

“Yes, if that would be something you wanted to do. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“I want to! Come on, let’s find your parents so we can ask them!”

The Weasley family wasn’t too hard to find. They were a large group and their red hair made them stand out. Dahlia had been nervous about meeting them. This was Percy’s family. She met Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George but she didn’t know if his parents and younger siblings would like her. Turns out, she didn’t need to worry. Mrs. Weasley took to her immediately, saying how she was such a lovely young lady, and Mr. Weasley had been intrigued that she grew up in the muggle world. He had engaged her with a few questions about how muggles got on without magic.

Ron seemed indifferent to her. She could sort of understand that. She was a girl and according to Percy, at his current age Ron had no interest in girls and only really liked quidditch and wizards chess. Ginny seemed somewhat curious about her, but once Dahlia mentioned she enjoyed spending her free time reading in the library Ginny had lost interest.

In return, the Weasley family met Sol, who had introduced herself as her Aunt Ariadne.

Sol had decided to re-enter the wizarding world as Ariadne Rowan. The Rowan family was a neutral family that died off in the war but they were a family that followed Tom and had granted their titles and estate to Voldemort. Sol was still recognized as Tom Riddle’s wife and therefore was able to claim the title as her own. With a few minor changes to her appearance no one would mistake her for the previous Lady Gaunt unless they looked really closely.

No one was looking closely.

With her Aunt Ariadne giving her permission to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley for her to visit, Dahlia was set to visit Percy in the second week of August after Lughnasadh.

\---

“Percy!” Dahlia cheered as she spotted him and Mr. Weasley in the Leaky Cauldron. She and Sol had walked in through the muggle entrance and from there she was going to floo to Percy’s house.

“Hi Dahlia,” Percy greeted Dahlia as she all but ran up to him and tackled him in an enthusiastic hug. Percy wasn’t expecting it and stumbled back a bit as the smaller girl all but bowled him over.

Dahlia pouted as she looked up at him. “You’ve gotten taller. How is it that you’ve gotten taller?”

“I grew.”

Dahlia huffed and glared at him but there was no heat behind it as she smiled immediately after and grabbed his hand.

“Hi Mr. Weasley,” Dahlia greeted him, unaware of the fact that Percy started blushing profusely when she started holding his hand.

“Hello Dahlia,” Mr. Weasley replied as he ignored his son’s plight. He figured his son had a slight crush on the girl the way he went on about her sometimes, but it was something entirely different to see it in person. He decided not to mention it. “Have you enjoyed your summer thus far?”

“It’s been brilliant! Aunt Ariadne has been letting us go to the public library on Vertic Alley by ourselves! And we’ve also been down to the community center on Rainbow Road a few times. There’s a pool there and it’s been loads of fun learning how to swim!”

“Public library?” Percy asked. He didn’t know such a thing existed.

“Yeah, you know the one on Vertic? It’s right by this cute little bakery that has the best scones. I would have thought I’d see you there at least a few times but we must have missed each other.”

“I didn’t know there was a public library.”

“How is that possible? It’s the largest building on Vertic Alley!”

“I’ve never been to Vertic Alley,” Percy frowned. “Dad, why have we never been to Vertic Alley?”

Mr. Weasley frowned. “I’m not too sure. During the war a lot of places were attacked so most people stuck to Diagon Alley for their shopping instead of travelling to different alleys and risking being out. I guess even after it was safe we just kept to what we were used to.”

“You really should visit there. They’ve got loads of great shops. Vertic Alley is actually where I got your presents Percy! There’s this little second hand bookshop there that Professor McGonagall showed us. It’s where I got all my school books. I bought all your books from there for only ten galleons and some sickles.”

Percy started choking on air. “They were how much?!”

“Well, each book is a galleon or less. They’re second hand and some of them aren’t all that well cared for. A lot of them have writing in them or have tattered covers with creased pages. I scoured the stacks looking for the ones that were in the best condition and from there I repaired the books so that they looked brand new.”

Percy couldn’t believe it. The books had seemed new! He had been so worried about her spending all that money when really the books were secondhand! Their family spent so much money on school books each year when they could have been getting them for almost nothing when compared to the steep prices they were when new! He just couldn’t believe it.

“Is that where you did all your shopping?” Percy asked.

“Yep! I got pretty much all my supplies there except for my wand and robes. My trunk was only four galleons and my satchel was a little less than three galleons, on account of both of them being very outdated. I believe my trunk was originally made in the 1930’s while my satchel was from the 1960’s. But the charms on the trunk and satchel still work perfectly fine!”

“Dad. Dad, we have to shop there this year. Please tell mum that we have to shop there.” If they shopped there they’d be able to afford new robes. Even though he knew he shouldn’t be, Percy was embarrassed to be wearing his older brother's second hand robes. Some of them didn’t even fit right.

Mr. Weasley nodded his head in agreement. “Yes, I’ll definitely be letting your mother know. I had no idea myself. I can’t believe it.”

“Oh! We should go shopping together! Maybe sometime next week? My sister and I still have to pick up a few things like our potions ingredients. We wanted them to be as fresh as possible so we didn’t get them when we picked up our other supplies last month.” Dahlia turned to Sol. “What do you think Aunt Ari?”

“I think it’s a great idea. I’d be happy to bring the children to meet up with your family. I’m sure you’ll have to discuss it with your wife but please let me know your decision?”

“Of course, I could floo you when we come to a decision?” Mr. Weasley suggested.

“We actually aren’t connected to the floo network but if you come to a decision today you can just tell Dahlia and she’ll let me know. Otherwise you can just send us a letter.”

“You’re not connected to the floo network?” Mr. Weasley asked.

Sol shook her head. “No, we live in a completely muggle home. We have wards up and some enchantments done on the house but for the most part it’s completely muggle. Our fireplace is just that, a fireplace.”

“Really?” Mr. Weasley lit up in curiosity. “Do you use magic in your home? Do you use electricity? How does it affect your use of magic?”

Sol smiled at the man. Dahlia had told her that Mr. Weasley was fascinated by muggle things and worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. “Yes, we use both magic and electricity in our home. Neither affect each other because we don’t have wards up preventing the use of muggle technology.”

“What do you mean?” Percy asked. Muggle technology can’t work around magic. Electricity reacted badly when coming in contact with magic. Everyone knew that.

“We don’t have wards up that stop electricity from working when coming in contact with magic. I’m sure you’ve been told that electrical items don’t interact well with magic?”

Percy and Mr. Weasley both nodded their heads.

“That’s not true,” Sol explained. “Places like the different alleys, the Ministry, Hogwarts, and any other highly magical wix area have wards up to prevent detection from the muggles. That means that electricity and electrical items don’t work as the wards work against them. It was created in the early 1900’s around the second muggle world war. Wix communities risked discovery because of something created by muggles called radar. The simplest way to explain radar is that it’s an electromagnetic pulse that is sent out to detect things in its path whether they can see it or not.”

“How is that possible?” Percy asked.

“It’s complicated to explain but essentially it’s,” Sol hummed. How was she supposed to explain this? “You have to understand that muggles are very advanced. Muggle technology has evolved well past wix understanding of what muggles are like. All muggle studies texts are extremely outdated and stopped giving out accurate information in the 1950’s. I can’t fully explain how radar works because it’s not something that I studied.

“Most muggles have a general idea of what it is and how it works. Same goes with most things electrical. If I were to tell a muggle child that radar works by a device sending out a wave of energy and that energy will ‘ping’ when it hits something in their path most would understand immediately because things like electricity and technology are a part of their everyday lives.”

“I’m getting off topic but basically, the muggle repelling wards and the wards to prevent electricity from working make it so that those waves sent out by radar devices will pass over wix communities and not be able to detect them.”

“So, these wards work almost like a notice me not charm towards radar?” Percy said. He was trying to work through it but it was still difficult to grasp. He had no idea that muggles were so advanced. He had been studying the muggle studies text in his own time because he wanted to take that OWL but it had never seen all that complicated. Not like what Lady Rowan had just explained.

“Yes! That’s a very good example Percy! So, if you don’t have these wards up electrical items will work just fine in your home.” Sol nodded in approval. Dahlia said that Percy was smart and this just proved what kind of mind he had if he was able to make a connection like that.

“You should come over and see it!” Dahlia suggested. “That would be okay right Auntie? Maybe Mr. Weasley could come over as well. I’m sure seeing it all work would be great for his job.”

“I have no problem with that,” Sol said. After working out the details of future potential visits and Dahlia promised to page Sol when she was ready to come home, Dahlia flooed over to The Burrow.

The Burrow was wonderful. The whole house ran on magic and Dahlia couldn’t help but delight in it. She loved her own home of course but seeing how much magic could do was fascinating. She and Percy spent their time out in the garden. They sat next to each other under a tree, just enjoying being in each other’s company, much like the way they’d spend time outside down by the lake.

Percy’s siblings had come by and tried to interest her in playing a game of quidditch. When Dahlia had said she never played before and never watched a game, not even at school, his siblings had been appalled and insisted that they teach her. Dahlia had just shrugged and looked to Percy.

“What do you think, Percy? Want to play some quidditch for a while?” Dahlia asked him.

“What are you asking him for? He never wants to play with us.” Ron said.

Dahlia frowned. “I’m asking because he’s my friend and the one I came to visit. I’m not going to ditch him to fly around on brooms. I know how, I did have flying lessons after all, and while it’s not something I’d actively seek out to do, I know lots of people, including Percy, enjoy flying.”

“You like flying?” Ron sounded as though this was the first he was hearing of it and it was quite possible that maybe it was.

“I do,” Percy responded. “I would just rather ask mum and dad for new books rather than a broom which is more expensive.”

Ron frowned as he thought about it but then just shrugged. “Alright, then come on then. If you and Dahlia both play we’ll be able to play four on four.”

Percy almost protested until he saw the bright smile on Dahlia’s face. If she wanted to play quidditch then he supposed they could for a while.

“What are you wearing?” Percy heard Ginny ask as they walked towards the field where they’d play.

“Um, clothes?” Dahlia questioned.

Dahlia blinked and looked down at her outfit. She had on a baby pink t-shirt tucked into denim bermuda shorts. On her feet were long white socks that were pushed down to her ankles and white sneakers. She also had a light green plaid jacket tied around her waist in case she got cold. On her neck was the dahlia pendant Percy made for her. She never went out without it.

“Why is there something wrong with it?”

“No, I’ve just never seen anything like it before,” Ginny replied.

Dahlia hummed as she looked at Ginny’s own outfit. She had on soft looking brown trousers and an equally as soft looking blue collared shirt and purple cardigan.

“Well, these are muggle clothes so I suspect their styles are a little different.”

Ginny only looked at her curiously but didn’t press the subject further.

\---

The quidditch game had been loads of fun. Dahlia played on a team with Fred, Ginny, and Bill, while Charlie, George, Percy, and Ron made up the other team. It was really just to see who could get the most goals and Dahlia’s team ended up winning only because she had been able to block every attempt to get the quaffle past her.

“You’re a really good keeper,” Bill commented. “Do you think you’ll try out for quidditch this year?”

“Nah, I heard that practices take up a lot of time and I’d rather spend that time studying.”

“Are you sure you shouldn’t have been sorted into Ravenclaw?” Charlie teased.

“No, it wasn’t an option honestly. It was Hufflepuff or Slytherin. In the end I was more Slytherin,” Dahlia shrugged.

“You’re a slimy snake?!” Ron shouted in shock.

Dahlia took a step back from him and grabbed Percy’s hand. Percy immediately stepped slightly in front of Dahlia, shielding her from Ron. The action wasn’t missed by the older Weasley children. Bill and Charlie exchanged looks. Percy was still young but he was approaching the age when he’d reach his magical inheritance. It may be nothing, but there was a chance that Percy would have a creature inheritance like them.

“Did you not read the letters I sent home?” Percy asked angrily. He didn’t miss the hurt look Dahlia had on her face. Ron had no reason to upset her like that. “I wrote that Dahlia was in Slytherin in them.”

“I didn’t think you were serious!”

“Why would I joke about something like that?”

“Because why would you ever be friends with a Slytherin? They’re dark!”

“What’s wrong with being dark?” Dahlia finally said. She turned on her mage sight and looked around at everyone’s cores. Percy had a dark core, so did Fred and George. Ginny had a darker grey core while Ron and Bill had lighter gray ones. Charlie was the only one with a light core. “Everyone here is either dark or neutral. Except Charlie. Charlie has a light core.”

“You have mage sight?” Bill exclaimed. He blinked and began looking at everyone.

Dahlia nodded. “Do you have it as well?”

“I do. And before you accuse her of lying Ron, she’s right. The only one here with a light core is Charlie. Percy, Fred, George, and Dahlia, all have dark cores. The rest of us have neutral cores.” Bill looked towards the house. “Dad has a dark core and mum has a neutral core.”

“That’s impossible! Dad isn’t a dark wizard!” Ron protested.

“Except he is. I can see it.”

“I’m telling dad!” Ron said before rushing off into the house.

The resulting conversation was one that Dahlia felt she shouldn’t be a part of but she couldn’t very well leave on her own. Ron’s world view on what made someone dark, light, or neutral had been shattered. He had always thought it was something you just chose. That dark was evil and light was good. But that wasn’t correct at all.

Part of it had to do with who your family was, Mr. Weasley’s mum was a Black which meant all of them had Black blood in them influencing their core to be more dark. But the biggest thing that influenced a core was when what time of year your core developed.

A person’s magical core develops differently for everyone. For some it happens when they are conceived, some while they’re in the womb, and others it doesn’t happen until after they’ve been born. Depending on what time of the year your core develops determines whether you are dark, light, or neutral.

If your core developed closer to Ostara or Litha, then you end up with a light core. If your core developed closer to Mabon or Yule, then you end up with a dark core. There are also neutral cores that are either true neutral or have more leanings towards dark or light that have to do with their cores developing closer towards the remaining holidays, Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain.

The biggest thing Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had to explain to Ron, as well as the other children, was that it has nothing to do with good or bad. Dark witches will be strongest under the moon and feel more refreshed during the autumn and winter months. Light witches will be strongest under the sun and feel more refreshed during the spring and summer months.

It even changed depending on what part of the world you are. You could be born in Britain but if you’re living somewhere like Australia where their seasons are reversed then a light witch would feel refreshed in December rather than June because of the change in season.

Dahlia had learned all of this from Sol and had just assumed it was something everyone in the wizarding world knew. But from what just happened today that was clearly not the case. It made her wonder how many other people in the wizarding world didn’t know this information and if that was a huge part of where there was so much prejudice against dark wix and dark magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: ... maybe if i keep posting chapters new plot points won't keep trying to insert themselves into the fic  
> new plot points: not bloody likely  
> me, crying: this wasn't supposed to be so plot heavy.  
> new plot points: too bad  
> T~T
> 
> ... also. don’t like, call me out for my hand wavy explanation of radar. i had to google it as i’m not a very science-y person


End file.
